
SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT 



f 





PI 



A 

GRAMMAR 

OF THE 

ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 



BY ALFRED AYRES. 



THE 

ORTHOEPIST: 

A Pronouncing Manual, 

CONTAINING ABOUT THREE THOU- 
SAND FIVE HUNDRED WORDS, 

INCLUDING A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF THE NAMES 

OF FOREIGN AUTHORS, ARTISTS, ETC., THAT 

ARE OFTEN MISPRONOUNCED. 

FIFTEENTH EDITIONk 



THE 

VERBALIST: 

A Manual 

DEVOTED TO BRIEF DISCUSSIONS OF 

THE RIGHT AND THE WRONG 

USE OF WORDS, 

AND TO SOME OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST TO 

THOSE WHO WOULD SPEAK AND WRITE WITH 

PROPRIETY. 

TENTH EDITION. 



18mo, cloth, each, $1.00. 



. - - ... *r -=-o 

' NOV 11*887 

ENGLISH GRAinOTR 



OF 



WILLIAM COBBETT. 



CAREFULLY REVISED AND ANNOTATED 

By ALFRED AYRES, 

AUTHOR OF U THE ORTHOEPIST," " THE VERBALIST," ETC. 



The only amusing grammar in the world. — Henry Lytton Bulwer. 
Interesting as a story-book. — Hazlitt. 

I know it well, and have read it with great admiration. — Richard 
Grant White. 




NEW YORK: 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

I, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. 
1884. 



Ttww 



COPYRIGHT BY 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
1883. 



EDITOR'S NOTE. 



Cobbett's Grammar is probably the most read- 
able grammar ever written. For the purposes of self- 
education it is unrivaled. Persons that studied gram- 
mar when at school and failed to comprehend its 
principles — and there are many such — as well as those 
that never have studied grammar at all, will find the 
book specially suited to their needs. Any one of 
average intelligence that will give it a careful reading 
will be rewarded with at least a tolerable knowledge 
of the subject, as nothing could be more simple or 
more lucid than its expositions. 

The first edition of the book was published in Lon- 
don, in December, 1818 — sixty-four years ago. In 
preparing this edition, I have called attention — 1. To 
the points in which Cobbett's teachings differ from 
what is now considered the best usage ; 2. To the 
few errors of diction found in its pages ; and, 3. To a 



6 EDITOR'S NOTE. 

better — because discriminating — use of the relative 
pronouns than we find either here, or almost any- 
where else in modern literature — better than I myself, 
until very recently, have observed. 

These pronominal corrections are made in accord- 
ance with the fact that WHO and WHICH are prop- 
erly the co-ordinating relative pronouns, and that 
that is properly the restrictive relative pronoun. 
Whenever a clause restricts, limits, defines, qualifies 
the antecedent, i. e., whenever it is adjectival — explana- 
tory in its functions — it should be introduced with the 
relative pronoun that, and not with which nor with 
WHO or whom. The indiscriminate use of the rela- 
tives sometimes makes it impossible to be certain what 
the writer would say. 

Let us take one or two simple examples : " I met 
the watchman who showed me the way." Does this 
mean, I met the watchman and he showed me the 
way, or does it mean that of several watchmen I met 
the one that — on some previous occasion — showed me 
the way ? It should mean the former, and would 
mean that and nothing else, if we discriminated in the 
use of who and that. Again, the familiar line from 
Goldsmith, " And fools, who came to scoff, remained 
to pray." Does this mean, And the fools that came, 
though they came to scoff, remained to pray, or does 



EDITOR'S NOTE. 7 

it mean that some of the fools that came, came to 
scoff, and these remained to pray ? Probably the for- 
mer is the meaning, but as the line stands, this, no 
matter how general the opinion, can be only conjec- 
ture, as every one must admit that the meaning in- 
tended may be the latter. If the latter is the mean- 
ing, it is clear that the proper relative to use is that. 
Again : " It is requested that all members of Council, 
who are also members of the Lands Committee, will 
assemble in the Council-room." Does this mean that 
all the members of Council are also members of the 
Lands Committee and that they shall assemble, or 
does it mean that such members of Council as are 
also members of the Lands Committee shall assem- 
ble ? Again : " The volume is recommended to all 
geologists to whom the Secondary rocks of England 
are a subject of interest." Is the volume recommended 
to all geologists, or to such only as take an interest in 
Secondaiy rocks ? Again : " He had commuted the 
sentence of the Circassian officers who had conspired 
against Arabi Bey and his fellow ministers — a pro- 
ceeding which [that] naturally incensed the so-called 
Egyptian party." Did all the Circassian officers con- 
spire, or only a part of them ? 

Who and which are the proper co-ordinating 
relatives to use when the antecedent is completely ex- 



$ EDITOR'S NOTE. 

pressed without the help of the clause introduced by 
the relative. Thus : " The society now numbers nearly 
twenty members, who (= and they) have given up all 
family ties and devoted themselves entirely to religious 
work." " The choir consists of about sixty men and 
boys who are surpliced." " But some of their friends, 
who (= persons that) are wealthy and influential 
members of the church, did not like to have them 
give up their work in Boston, which had been at- 
tended with great results, and urged them to return, 
which they have consented to do, and they will soon 
begin work anew at the old church, which is the 
property of the Society of St. John the Evangelist." 

In the following examples, the errors are corrected 
in brackets : The heirs, who are very numerous, will 
be present, i. e., all the heirs. The heirs, who have 
been notified, will be present, i. e., all the heirs. The 
heirs that have been notified will be present, i. e., only 
those notified. The heirs, whom I have seen, will be 
present, i. e., all the heirs. The heirs that I have 
seen will be present, i. e., only those seen. I study 
grammar, which I like very much. Give me the 
grammar that lies on the desk. He struck the man, 
who — i. e., though he — had done him no harm. He 
struck the man that insulted him. He struck the 
wrong man — the one that had done him no harm. 



EDITOR' 1 S NO TE. 9 

The house, which is built of brick, is very warm. 
The house that is built of brick is the warmest. The 
cat — i. e., the species — which you so dislike, is a useful 
animal. The cat — i. e., the individual — that you so 
dislike, is a very pretty one. He jumped into the 
water, which greatly frightened his mother. He at- 
tends to his own affairs, which is the way to make 
them prosper. He that attends to his own affairs is 
likely to see them prosper. The man that I saw is 
tall. This man, whom I know well, is a good plow- 
man. " He that lets the sun go down on his wrath," 
etc. " The rich despise those who [that] flatter too 
much, and hate those who [that] do not flatter at all." 
" An ambitious man whom [that] you can serve will 
often aid you to rise," etc. " He that feeds man serv- 
eth few — he serveth all who [that] dares be true." 
" The curious inquirer who [that] sets himself," etc. 
" This book has been made for those who [that] aim to 
have," etc. " The people who [that] are expecting, 
under the new code. . . . The people will not consent, 
under a government which [that] depends upon their 
will, to adopt the Sabbatarian notions which [that] the 
old Puritans. . . . Yet there are some narrow minds 
in New York who [that] still think. . . . They have no 
sympathy with those who [that] w T ould force. . . . 
Then there are the Jews, who do not feel . . . and 



io EDITOR'S NOTE. 

who claim the right to work or play on Sunday. . . . 
The population would be sunk in gloom, which would, 
of course," etc. " We may envy the man who [that] 
enjoys and rests, but the smile of Heaven settles rather 
on the front of him who [that ?] labors and aspires." 
(Bulwer.) 

Spoken language is accompanied with emphasis, 
inflection, and gesture ; written language has no such 
aids. Hence, in writing, if we would make sure of 
conveying just what we have in our minds, we must 
exercise great care in the choice and the arrangement 
of our words. 

A. A. 
New York, February, 1883. 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER PAGE 

editor's note 5 

I. — INTRODUCTION 13 

II. — DEFINITION OF GRAMMAR AND OF ITS DIFFER- 
ENT BRANCHES OR PARTS . . . .20 
III. — ETYMOLOGY: THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF SPEECH, 

OR SORTS OF WORDS 25 

IV. — ETYMOLOGY OF ARTICLES . . . .23 

V. — ETYMOLOGY OF NOUNS 35 

VI. — ETYMOLOGY OF PRONOUNS . . . .42 

VII. — ETYMOLOGY OF ADJECTIVES . . . .5° 

VIII. — ETYMOLOGY OF VERBS 53 

IX. — ETYMOLOGY OF ADVERBS . . . .78 

X. — ETYMOLOGY OF PREPOSITIONS . . . 79 

XI. — ETYMOLOGY OF CONJUNCTIONS . . . 8 1 

XII. — CAUTIONARY REMARKS 8 1 

XIII. — SYNTAX GENERALLY CONSIDERED . . . 83 

XIV. — SYNTAX : THE POINTS AND MARKS MADE USE 

OF IN WRITING 84 

XV. — SYNTAX, AS RELATING TO ARTICLES . . 95 

XVI. — SYNTAX, AS RELATING TO NOUNS . . • . 97 

XVII. — SYNTAX, AS RELATING TO PRONOUNS . . 102 

XVIII. — SYNTAX, AS RELATING TO ADJECTIVES . . 126 



12 CONTENTS. 

LETTER PAGE 

XIX. — SYNTAX, AS RELATING TO VERBS . . .128 

XX. — SYNTAX, AS RELATING TO ADVERBS, PREPOSI- 
TIONS, AND CONJUNCTIONS .... 163 
XXI. — SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR, TAKEN FROM 
THE WRITINGS OF DR. JOHNSON, AND FROM 
THOSE OF DR. WATTS . . . . . 165 

XXII. — ERRORS AND NONSENSE IN A KING'S SPEECH. 187 
XXIII. — ON PUTTING SENTENCES TOGETHER, AND ON 

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE . . . . 1 96 

XXIV. — SIX LESSONS, INTENDED TO PREVENT STATES- 
MEN FROM USING FALSE GRAMMAR, AND 
FROM WRITING IN AN AWKWARD MANNER . 201 
LESSON 

I. — ON THE SPEECH OF THE RIGHT HONORABLE 
MANNERS SUTTON, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE 

OF COMMONS 204 

II. — ON HIS MAJESTY'S SPEECH AT THE CLOSE OF 

THE SESSION IN 1819 213 

III. — ON THE NOTE OF LORD CASTLEREAGH RELA- 
TIVE TO THE MUSEUMS AT PARIS . . 2ig 
IV. — ON THE DISPATCH OF THE DUKE OF WELLING- 
TON RELATIVE TO THE SAME SUBJECT . 225 
V. — ON A NOTE OF LORD CASTLEREAGH RELATIVE 

TO THE FRENCH SLAVE TRADE . . . 229 

VI. — ON DISPATCHES OF THE MARQUIS WELLESLEY 
RELATIVE TO THE STATE OF IRELAND IN 
1822 • 234 

INDEX . . . . ... .247 



TO 



MR. JAMES PAUL COBBETT. 



LETTER I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

North Hempstead, Long Island,* Dec. 6th> 1817. 
My dear Little James: 

You have now arrived at the age of fourteen years 
without ever having been bidden, or even advised, to look 
into a book ; and all you know of reading or of writing 
you owe to your own unbiassed taste and choice.f But, 
while you have lived unpersecuted by such importunities, . 
you have had the very great advantage of being bred up 
under a roof beneath which no cards, no dice, no gaming, 
no senseless pastime of any description, ever found a place. 
In the absence of these, books naturally became your com- 
panions during some part of your time : you have read and 
have written, because you saw your elders read and write, 

* In March, 1817, Cobbett, influenced by political reasons, fled from 
England to the United States, where some fifteen years previously he 
had spent five or six years. He took up his residence in Long Island, 
and there his English Grammar was written. 

+ A very interesting account is given by Cobbett of the method pur- 
sued by him in the education of his children in the fifth letter — *" To 
a Father" — of his " Advice to Young Men." 



14 INTRODUCTION. [letter 

just as you have learned to ride, and hunt, and shoot, to dig 
the beds in the garden, to trim the flowers, and to prune 
the trees. The healthful exercise, and the pleasures, un- 
mixed with fear, which [that] you have derived from those 
sources, have given you " a sound mind in a sound body," 
and this, says an English writer, whose works you will by- 
and-by read, " is the greatest blessing that God can give to 
man." 

It is true that this is a very great blessing ; but mere 
soundness of mind, without any mental acquirements, is 
possessed by millions ; it is an ordinary possession, and it 
gives a man no fair pretensions to merit, because he owes it 
to accident, and not to anything done by himself. But 
knowledge, in any art or science, being always the fruit of 
observation, study, or practice, gives, in proportion to its 
extent and usefulness, the possessor a just claim to respect. 
We do, indeed, often see all the outward marks of respect 
bestowed upon persons merely because they are rich or 
powerful ; but these, while they are bestowed with pain, 
are received without pleasure. They drop from the tongue 
or beam from the features, but have no communication with 
the heart. They are not the voluntary offerings of admira- 
tion, or of gratitude ; but are extorted from the hopes, the 
fears, the anxieties, of poverty, of meanness, or of guilt. 
Nor is respect due to honesty, fidelity, or any such quali- 
ties ; because dishonesty and perfidy are crimes. To enti- 
tle a man to respect, there must be something of his own 
doing, beyond the bounds of his well-known duties and 
obligations. 

Therefore, being extremely desirous to see you, my dear 
James, an object of respect, I now call upon you to apply 
your mind to the acquiring of that kind of knowledge which 
[that] is inseparable from an acquaintance with books ; for, 



i.] INTRODUCTION. 15 

though knowledge in every art and science is, if properly 
applied, worthy of praise in proportion to its extent and 
usefulness, there are some kinds of knowledge which [that] 
are justly considered as of a superior order, not only be- 
cause the possession of them is a proof of more than ordi- 
nary industry and talent, but because the application of 
them has naturally a more powerful influence in the affairs 
and on the condition of our friends, acquaintances, neigh- 
bors, and country. Blake, the Titchfield thatcher who 
[that] broke his leg into splinters in falling from a wheat- 
rick, was, on account of the knowledge which [that] he 
possessed, beyond that of laborers in general, an object of 
respect ; but, in its degree, and in the feelings from which 
it arose, how different was that respect from the respect 
due to our excellent neighbor, Mr. Blundell, who re- 
stored the leg to perfect use, after six garrison and army 
surgeons had declared that it was impossible to preserve it, 
and that, if the leg were not cut off, the man must die 
within twenty-four hours ! It is probable that the time of 
Mr. Blundell was not, on this occasion, occupied more, 
altogether, than four days and four nights ; yet, the effect 
was a great benefit to be enjoyed by Blake for probably 
thirty or forty years to come : and, while we must see that 
this benefit would necessarily extend itself to the whole of 
his numerous family, we must not overlook those feelings 
of pleasure which [that] the cure would naturally produce 
amongst friends, acquaintances, and neighbors. 

The respect due to the profession of the surgeon or 
physician is, however, of an order inferior to that which 
Qthat] is due to the profession of the law ; for whether in 
the character of Counsellor or of Judge, here are required, 
not only uncommon industry, labor, and talent, in the ac- 
quirement of knowledge ; but the application of this knowl- 



1 6 INTRODUCTION. [letter 

edge, in defending the property of the feeble or incautious 
against the attacks of the strong and the wiles of the crafty ; 
in affording protection to innocence, and securing punish- 
ment to guilt : has, in the affairs of men and on their con- 
dition in life, a much more extensive and more powerful 
influence than can possibly arise from the application of 
Surgical or Medical knowledge. 

To the functions of Statesmen and Legislators is due 
the highest respect which [that] can be shown by man to 
anything human ; for, not only are the industiy, labor, and 
talent, requisite in the acquirement of knowledge, still 
greater and far greater here, than in the profession of the 
Law ; but, of the application of this knowledge, the effects 
are so transcendent in point of magnitude as to place them 
beyond all the bounds of comparison. Here it is not indi- 
vidual persons with their families, friends, and neighbors, 
that are affected ; but whole countries and communities. 
Here the matters to be discussed and decided on are peace 
or war, and the liberty or slavery, happiness or misery, of 
nations. Here a single instance of neglect, a single over- 
sight, a single error, may load with calamity millions of 
men, and entail that calamity on a long series of future 
generations. 

But, my dear James, you will always bear in mind that, 
as the degree and quality of our respect rise in proportion 
to the influence which [that] the different branches of 
knowledge naturally have in the affairs and on the condi- 
tion of men, so, in the cases of an imperfection in knowl- 
edge, or of neglect in its application, or of its perversion to 
bad purposes, all the feelings which [that] are opposite to 
that of respect rise in the same proportion. To ignorant 
pretenders to Surgery and Medicine we award our contempt 
and scorn ; on time-serving or treacherous Counsellors, 



i.] INTRODUCTION. 17 

and on cruel or partial Judges, we inflict our detestation 
and abhorrence ; while, on rapacious, corrupt, perfidious, 
or tyrannical Statesmen and Legislators, the voice of human 
nature cries aloud for execration and vengeance. 

The particular path of knowledge to be pursued by you, 
will be of your own choosing ; but, as to knowledge con- 
nected with books, there is a step to be taken before you 
can fairly enter upon any path. In the immense field of 
this kind of knowledge, innumerable are the paths, and 
Grammar is the gate of entrance to them all. And if 
Grammar is so useful in the attaining of knowledge, it is 
absolutely necessary in order to enable the possessor to 
communicate, by writing, that knowledge to others, without 
which communication the possession must be comparatively 
useless to himself in many cases, and, in almost all cases, 
to the rest of mankind. 

The actions of men proceed from their thoughts. In 
order to obtain the co-operation, the concurrence, or the 
consent of others, we must communicate our thoughts to 
them. The means of this communication are words ; and 
Grammar teaches us how to make use of words. Therefore, 
in all the ranks, degrees, and situations of life, a knowl- 
edge of the principles and rules of Grammar must be use- 
ful ; in some situations it must be necessary to the avoid- 
ing of really injurious errors ; and in no situation which 
[that] calls on man to place his thoughts upon paper, can 
the possession of it fail to be a source of self-gratulation, 
or the want of it a cause of mortification and sorrow. 

But, to the acquiring of this branch of knowledge, my 
dear son, there is one motive which [that], though it ought, 
at all times, to be strongly felt, ought, at the present time, 
to be so felt in an extraordinary degree : I mean that de- 
sire which [that] every man, and especially every young 



i8 INTRODUCTION. [letter 

man, should entertain to be able to assert with effect the 
rights and liberties of his country. When you come to 
read the history of those Laws of England by which the 
freedom of the people has been secured, and by which the 
happiness, and power, and glory of our famed and beloved 
country have been so greatly promoted ; when you come to 
read the history of the struggles of our forefathers, by 
which those sacred laws have, from time to time, been de- 
fended against despotic ambition ; by which they have been 
restored to vigor when on the eve of perishing ; by which 
their violators have never failed, in the end, to be made to 
feel the just vengeance of the People ; when you come to 
read the history of these struggles in the cause of freedom, 
you will find that tyranny has no enemy so formidable as 
the pen. And, while you will see with exultation the 
long-imprisoned, the heavily-fined, the banished William 
Prynne, returning to liberty, borne by the people from 
Southampton to London, over a road strewed with flowers ; 
then accusing, bringing to trial, and to the block, the ty- 
rants from whose hands he and his country had unjustly 
and cruelly suffered ; while your heart and the heart of 
every young man in the kingdom will bound with joy at 
the spectacle, you ought all to bear in mind that, without a 
knowledge of Grammar^ Mr. Prynne could never have 
performed any of those acts by which his name has been 
thus preserved, and which [that} have caused his memory 
to be held in honor. 

Though I have now said what, I am sure, will be more 
than sufficient to make you entertain a strong desire to take 
this first step in the road to literary knowledge, I cannot 
conclude this introductory letter without observing, that 
you ought to proceed in your study, not only with diligence, 
but with patience ; that, if you meet with difficulties, you 



I.] INTRODUCTION, 19 

should bear in mind that, to enjoy the noble prospect from 
Port's-Down Hill, you had first to climb slowly to the top ; 
and that, if those difficulties gather about you and impede 
your way, you have only to call to your recollection any 
one of the many days that you have toiled through briers 
and brambles and bogs, cheered and urged on by the hope 
of at last finding and killing your game. 

I have put my work into the form of Letters, in order 
that I might be continually reminded that I was addressing 
myself to persons who [that] needed to be spoken to with 
great clearness. I have numbered the Letters themselves, ' 
and also the paragraphs, in order that I might be able, in 
some parts of the work, to refer you to, or [to] tell you 
where to look at, other parts of the work. And here I will 
just add, that a sentence, used as a term in Grammar, means 
one of those portions of words which [that] are divided from 
the rest by a single dot, which is called a period, or full 
point ; and that & paragraph means one of those collections, 
or blocks, of sentences which [that] are divided from the 
rest of the work by beginning a new line a little further in 
than the lines in general ; and, of course, all this part, which 
[that] I have just now written, beginning with u I have pztt 
my work into the form," is a paragraph. 

In a confident reliance on your attentiveness, industry, 
and patience, I have a hope not less confident of seeing you 
a man of real learning, employing your time and talents in 
aiding the cause of truth and justice, in affording protection 
to defenseless innocence, and in drawing down vengeance 
on lawless oppression ; and, in that hope, I am your happy, 
as well as affectionate, father, 

William Cobbett. 



20 DEFINITION OF [letter 

LETTER II. 

definition of grammar, and of its different 
branches, or parts. 

My dear James: 

1. In the foregoing Letter I have laid before you some 
of the inducements to the study of Grammar. In this I 
will define, or describe, the thing called Grammar ; and 
also its different Branches, or Parts. 

2. Grammar, as I observed to you before, teaches us 
how to make use of words ; that is to say, it teaches us how 
to make use of them in a proper manner, as I used to teach 
you how to sow and plant the beds in the garden ; for you 
could have throwed [thrown] about seeds and stuck in 
plants of some sort or other, in some way or other, without 
any teaching of mine ; and so can anybody, without rules 
or instructions, put masses of words upon paper ; but to be 
able to choose the words which [that] ought to [should] be 
employed, and to place them where they ought to [should] be 
placed, we must become acquainted with certain principles 
and rules ; and these principles and rules constitute what is 
called Grammar. 

3. Nor must you suppose, by-and-by, when you come 
to read about Nouns and Verbs and Pronouns, that all this 
tends to nothing but mere ornamental learning ; that it is 
not altogether necessary, and that people may write to be 
understood very well without it. This is not the case ; for, 
without a good deal of knowledge relative to these same 
Nouns and Verbs, those who [that] write are never sure 
that they put upon paper what they mean to put upon 
paper. I will, before the close of these Letters, show you 
that even very learned men have frequently written, and 
caused to be published, not only what they did not mean, 



ii.] GRAMMAR AND ITS BRANCHES, 21 

but the very contrary of what they meaned [meant] ; and if 
errors, such as are here spoken of, are sometimes committed 
by learned men, into what endless errors must those fall 
who [that} have no knowledge of any principles or rules, 
by the observance of which the like may be avoided ! 
Grammar, perfectly understood, enables us not only to ex- 
press our meaning fully and clearly, but so to express it as 
to enable us to defy the ingenuity of man to give to our 
words any other meaning than that which [that] we our- 
selves intend them to express. This, therefore, is a science 
of substantial utility. 

4. As to the different Branches or Parts of Grammar, 
they are four ; and they are thus named : Orthography \ 
Prosody, Etymology, and Syntax, 

5. There are two of these branches on which we have 
very little to say, and the names of which have been kept 
in use from an unwillingness to give up the practice of 
former times ; but, as it is usual to give them a place in 
books of this kind, I will explain to you the nature of all 
the four branches. 

6. ORTHOGRAPHY is a word made up of two Greek 
words, which [that] mean spelling. The use of foreign 
words, in this manner, was introduced at the time when the 
English Language was in a very barbarous state ; and, 
though this use has been continued, it ought to be a rule 
with you, always, when you either write or speak, to avoid 
the use of any foreign or uncommon word, if you can ex- 
press your meaning as fully and [as] clearly by [with] an 
English word in common use. However, Orthography 
means neither more nor less than the very humble business 
of putting Letters together properly, so that they shall [will] 
form Words. This is so very childish a concern that I -will 
[shall ?] not appear to suppose it necessary for me Xo dwell 



22 DEFINITION OF [letter 

upon it ; but as you will, by-and-by, meet with some direc- 
tions, under the head of Etymology, in which Vowels and 
Consonants will be spoken of, I will here, for form's sake, 
just observe that the letters, A, E, I, O, and U, are Vozvels. 
Y, in certain cases, is also a Vowel. All the rest of the 
letters of the alphabet are Consonants, 

7. PROSODY is a word taken from the Greek Lan- 
guage, and it means not so much as is expressed by the 
more common word Pronunciation ; that is to say, the 
business of using the proper sound, and employing the due 
length of time, in the uttering of syllables and words. This 
is a matter, however, which [that] ought not to [should not] 
occupy much of your attention, because pronunciation is 
learned as birds learn to chirp and sing. In some counties 
of England many words are pronounced in a manner differ- 
ent from that in which they are pronounced in other coun- 
ties ; and, between the pronunciation of Scotland and that 
of Hampshire the difference is very great indeed. But, 
while all inquiries into the causes of these differences are 
useless, and all attempts to remove them are vain, the dif- 
ferences are of very little real consequence. For instance, 
though the Scotch say coorn, the Londoners cawn, and the 
Hampshire folks cam, we know they all mean to say corn. 
Children will pronounce as their fathers and mothers pro- 
nounce ; and if, in common conversation, or in speeches, 
the matter be good and judiciously arranged, the facts clear- 
ly stated, the arguments conclusive, the words well chosen 
and properly placed, hearers whose approbation is worth 
having will pay very little attention to the accent. In short, 
it is sense, and not sound, which [that] is the object of your 
pursuit ; and, therefore, I have said enough about Prosody \ 

8. ETYMOLOGY is a very different matter ; and, un- 
der this head, you will enter on your study. This is a word 



ii.] GRAMMAR AND ITS BRANCHES. 2$ 

which [that] has been formed out of two Greek words ; and 
it means the pedigree or relationship of words, or, the man- • 
ner in which one word grows out of, or comes from, another 
word. For instance, the word walk expresses an action, or 
movement, of our legs ; but, in some cases we say walks, in 
others walked, in others walking. These three latter words 
are all different from each other, and they all differ from the 
original word, walk ; but the action or movement, ex- 
pressed by each of the four, is precisely the same sort of 
action or movement, and the three latter words grow out 
of, or come from, the first. The words here mentioned 
differ from each other [one another] with regard to the let- 
ters of which they are composed. The difference is made 
in order to express differences as to the Persons who [that] 
walk, as to the Nu??iber of persons, as to the Time of walk- 
ing. You will come, by-and-by, to the principles and rules 
according to which the varying of the spelling of words is 
made to correspond with these and other differences ; and 
these principles and rules constitute what is called Etymology. 
9. SYNTAX is a word which [that] comes from the 
Greek. It means, in that language, the joining of sevei'al 
things together ; and, as used by grammarians, it means 
those principles and rules which [that] teach us how to put 
words together so as to form sentences. It means, in short, 
sentence-making. Having been taught by the rules of Ety- 
mology what are the relationships of words, how words grow 
out of each other [one another], how they are varied in their 
letters in order to correspond with the variation in the cir- 
cumstances to which they apply, Syntax will teach you how 
to give all your words their proper situations or places, when 
you come to put them together into sentences. And here 
you will have to do with points as well as with words. The 
points are four in number, the Com?na, the Semi-Colon, the 



24 DEFINITION OF GRAMMAR, ETC. [letter 

Colon y and the Pei ioa. Besides these points, there are cer- 
tain marks, such as the 7nark of interrogation, for instance ; 
and, to use these points and marks properly is, as you will 
by-and-by find, a matter of very great importance. 

10. I have now given you a description of Grammar, 
and of its separate Branches or Parts. I have shown 
you that the two first of these Branches may be dismissed 
without any further notice ; but, very different indeed is the 
case with regard to the two latter. Each of these will re- 
quire several Letters ; and those Letters will contain mat- 
ter which [that] it will be impossible to understand without 
the greatest attention. You must read soberly and slowly, 
and you must think as you read. You must not hurry on 
from one Letter to another, as if you were reading a his- 
tory ; but you must have patience to get, if possible, at a 
clear comprehension of one part of the subject before you 
proceed to another part. When I was studying the French 
language, the manner in which I proceeded was this : when 
I had attentively read over, three times, a lesson, or other 
division of my Grammar, I wrote the lesson down upon a 
loose sheet of paper. Then I read it again several times in 
my own hand-writing. Then I copied it, in a very plain 
hand, and without a blot, into a book, which [that] I had 
made for the purpose. But if, in writing my lesson down 
on a loose sheet of paper, I committed one single error, 
however trifling, I used to tear the paper, and write the 
whole down again ; and, frequently, this occurred three or 
four times in the writing down of one lesson. I, at first, 
found this labor very irksome ; but, having imposed it on 
myself as a duty, I faithfully discharged that duty ; and, 
long before I had proceeded half the way through my 
Grammar, I experienced all the benefits of my industry and 
perseverance. 



in.] ETYMOLOGY. 25 

LETTER III. 

ETYMOLOGY. 

The different Parts of Speech, or Sorts of Words. 

My dear James : 

11. In the second Letter I have given you a descrip- 
tion of Etymology \ and shown you that it treats of the pedi- 
gree y or relationship, of words, of the nature of which rela- 
tionship I have given you a specimen in the word walk. 
The next thing is to teach you the principles and rules, ac- 
cording to which the spelling and employing of words are 
varied in order to express the various circumstances attend- 
ing this relationship. But, before I enter on this part of 
my instructions, I must inform you that there are several 
distinct sorts of words, or, as they are usually called, Parts 
of Speech ; and it will be necessary for you to be able, be- 
fore you proceed further, to distinguish the words belong- 
ing to each of these Parts of Speech from those belonging 
to the other parts. There are Nine Parts of Speech, and 
they are named thus : 

ARTICLES, NOUNS, 

PRONOUNS, ADJECTIVES, 

VERBS, ADVERBS, 

PREPOSITIONS, CONJUNCTIONS, 

INTERJECTIONS. 

12. Before the sergeant begins to teach young sol- 
diers their exercise of the musket, he explains to them the 
different parts of it ; the butt, the stock, the barrel, the 
loops, the swivels, and so on ; because, unless they know 
these by their names, they cannot know how to obey his 
instructions in the handling of the musket. Sailors, for 



26 ETYMOLOGY. [letter 

the same reason, are told which is the tiller, which are the 
yards, which the shrouds, which the tacks, which the sheets, 
which the booms, and which each and every part of the 
ship. Apprentices are taught the names of all the tools 
used in their trade ; and plowboys the names of the vari- 
ous implements of husbandry. This species of preliminary 
knowledge is absolutely necessary in all these callings of 
life ; but not more necessary than it is for you to learn, be- 
fore you go any further, how to know the sorts of words one 
from another. To teach you this, therefore, is the object 
of the present Letter. 

13. ARTICLES. There are but three in our language ; 
and these are, the, an, and a. Indeed, there are but two, 
because an and a are the same word, the latter being only 
an abbreviation, or a shortening, of the former. I shall, 
by-dnd-by, give you rules for the using of these Articles ; 
but my business in this place is only to teach you how to 
know one sort of words from another sort of words. 

14. NOUNS. The word Noun means name, and noth- 
ing more ; and Nouns are the names, of persons and things. 
As far as persons and other animals and things that we can 
see go, it is very easy to distinguish Nouns ; but there are 
many Nouns which [that] express what we can neither 
see, nor hear, nor touch. For example : Conscience, Vanity, 
Vice, Sobriety, Steadiness, Valor ; and a great number of 
others. Grammarians, anxious to give some easy rule by 
which the scholar might [may] distinguish Nouns from 
other words, have directed him to put the words, the good, 
before any word, and have told him that, if the three words 
make sense, the last word is a Noun. This is frequently 
the case ; as, the good house, the good dog ; but the good 
sobriety would [does] not appear to be very good sense. In 
fact there is no rule of this kind that will answer the pur- 



in.] PARTS OF SPEECH, 27 

pose. You must employ your mind in order to arrive at 
the knowledge here desired. 

15. Every word which [that] stands for a person or 
[for] any animal, or for any thing of stib stance, dead or 
alive, is a Noun. So far the matter is very easy. Thus, 
man, cat, tree, log, are Nouns. But, when we come to the 
words which [that] are the names of things, and which 
things are not substances, the matter is not so easy, and it 
requires a little sober thought. This word thought, for ex- 
ample, is a Noun. 

1 6. The only sure rule is this : that a word which 
[that] stands for any thing that has an existence is a Noun. 
For example : Pride, Folly, Thought, Misery, Truth, False- 
hood, Opinion, Sentiment. None of these have any sub- 
stance. You can not see them, or [nor] touch them ; but 
they all have an existence. They all exist in the world ; 
and, therefore the words which [that] represent them, or 
stand for them, are called Nouns. If you be [are] still a 
little puzzled here, you must not be impatient. You will 
find the difficulty disappear in a short time, if you exert 
your powers of thinking. Ask yourself what existence 
means. You will find that the words, very, for, think, 
but, pretty, do not express any thing which [that] has an 
existence, or a being ; but that the words, motive, zeal, pity, 
kindness, do express things which [that] have a being, or 
existence. 

17. PRONOUNS. Words of this sort stand in the 
place of Nouns. Their name is from the Latin, and it 
means For-nouns, or For-names ; that is to say, these words, 
called Pronouns, are used for, or instead of, Nouns. He, 
She, Her, Him, Who, for example, are Pronouns. The use 
of them is to prevent tne repetition of Nouns, and to make 
speaking and writing more rapid and less encumbered with 



28 ETYMOLOGY, [letter 

words. An example will make this clear to you in a min- 
ute. Thus : 

18 A woman went to a man, and told him that he 
was in great danger of being murdered by a gang of rob- 
bers, who [that] had made preparations for attacking him. 
He thanked her for her kindness, and, as he was unable to 
defend himself, he left his house and went to a neigh- 
bor's. 

19. Now, if there were no Pronouns, this sentence 
must [would have to] be written as follows : A woman 
went to a man, and told the man, that the man was in great 
danger of being murdered by a gang of robbers ; as a gang 
of robbers had made preparations for attacking the man. 
The man thanked the woman for the woman's kindness ; 
and, as the man was unable to defend the man's self, the 
man left the man's house and went to a neighbor's. 

20. There are several different classes of Pronouns ; 
but of this, and of the manner of using Pronouns, you will 
be informed by-and-by. All that I aim at here is to enable 
you to form a clear idea with regard to the difference in the 
sorts of words, or Parts of Speech. 

21. ADJECTIVES. The word Adjective, in its full 
literal sense, means something added to something else. 
Therefore this term is used in Grammar as the name of that 
Part of Speech which [that] consists of words which [that] 
are added, or put, to Nouns, in order to express something 
relating to the Nouns, which something could not be ex- 
pressed without the help of Adjectives. For instance, there 
are several turkeys in the yard, some black, some white, 
some speckled ; and, then, there are large ones and small 
ones of all the colors. I want you to go and catch a tur- 
key ; but I also want you to catch a white turkey, and not 
only a white turkey, but a large turkey. Therefore, I add, 



in.] PARTS OF SPEECH. 29 

ox put to the Noun, the words white and large ', which, there- 
fore, are called Adjectives. 

22. Adjectives sometimes express the qualities of the 
Nouns to which they are put ; and this being very fre- 
quently their use, some grammarians have thrown aside the 
word Adjectives, and have called words of this sort, Quali- 
ties. But, this name is not sufficiently comprehensive ; for 
there are many words which [that] are Adjectives which 
[that] have nothing to do with the quality of the Nouns to 
which they are put. Good and bad express qualities, but long 
and short merely express dimension, or duration, without giv- 
ing any intimation as to the quality of the things expressed 
by the Nouns to which they are put ; and yet long and short 
are Adjectives. You must read very attentively here, and 
consider soberly. You must keep in mind the above ex- 
planation of the meaning of the word Adjective ; and if 
you also bear in mind that words of this sort always ex- 
press some quality, some property, some appearance, or 
some distinctive circumstance, belonging to the Nouns to 
which they are put, you will very easily, and in a very short 
space of time, be able to distinguish an Adjective from 
words belonging to any other Part of Speech. 

23. VERBS. Grammarians appear to have been at a 
loss to discover a suitable appellation for this important 
sort of words, or Part of Speech ; for, the word Verb means 
nothing more than Word. In the Latin it is verbum, in 
the French it is verbe; and the French, in their Bible, say 
Le Verbe^ where we say The Word. The truth is that 
there are so many properties and circumstances, so many 
and such different powers and functions, belonging to this 
Part of Speech, that the mind of man is unable to bring 
the whole of them into any short and precise description. 
The first grammar that I ever looked into told me that " a 



30 E T YMOLOG Y. [letter 

Verb is a word which [that] signifies to do, to be, or to suf- 
fer!' What was I to understand from this laconic account ? 

24. Verbs express all the different actions and move- 
ments of all creatures and of all things, whether alive or 
dead. As, for instance, to speak, to bark, to grow, to molder, 
to crack, to crumble, and the like. In all these cases there 
is movement clearly understood. But in the cases of, to 
think, to reflect, to remember, to like, to detest, and in an in- 
finite number of cases, the move7nent is not so easily per- 
ceived. Yet these are all Verbs, and they do indeed ex- 
press movements which [that] we attribute to the mind, or 
[to] the heart. But what shall we say in the cases of to 
sit, to sleep, to rot, and the like ? Still these are all verbs. 

25. Verbs are, then, a sort of words, the use of which 
is to express the actions, the movements, and the state 
or manner of being, of all creatures and things, whether 
animate or inanimate. In speaking with reference to a 
man, to fight is an action ; to reflect is a movement ; to sit 
is a state of being. 

26. Of the manner of using Verbs you will hear a great 
deal by-and-by ; but, what I have here said will, if you 
read attentively, and take time to consider, be sufficient to 
enable you to distinguish Verbs from the words which 
[that] belong to the other Parts of Speech. 

27. ADVERBS are so called because the words 
which [that] belong to this Part of Speech are added to 
verbs. But this is an inadequate description ; for, as you 
will presently see, they are sometimes otherwise employed. 
You have seen that Verbs express actions, movements, and 
states of being; and it is very frequently the use of Adverbs 
to express the manner of actions, movements, and states of 
being. Thus : the man fights bravely ; he reflects pro- 
foundly ; he sits quietly. In these instances the Adverbs 



in.] PARTS OF SPEECH. 31 

perform an office, and are placed in a situation, which 
[that] fully justify the name that has been given to this sort 
of words. But there are many Adverbs which [that] do 
not express the manner of actions, movements, or states of 
being, and which [that] are not added to verbs. For in- 
stance : " When you sow small seeds make the earth very 
fine, and if it have, of late, been dry weather, take care to 
press the earth extremely hard upon the seeds." Here are 
four Adverbs, but only the last of the four expresses any 
thing connected with a Verb. This shows that the name 
of this class of words does not fully convey to our minds a 
description of their use. 

28. However, with this name you must be content ; 
but, you must bear in mind that there are Adverbs of time, 
of place, and of degree, as well as of manner ; and that their 
business is to express, or describe, some circumstances in 
addition to all that is expressed by the Nouns, Adjectives, 
and Verbs. In the above sentence, for example, the words 
when, very, of late, and extremely, add greatly to the pre- 
cept, which, without them, would lose much of its force. 

29. PREPOSITIONS. The prepositions are in, to, 
for, from, of, by, with, into, against, at, and several others. 
They are called Prepositions from two Latin words, mean- 
ing before and place ; and this name is given them because 
they are in most cases placed before Nouns and Pronouns : 
as, " Indian corn is sown in May. In June, and the three 
following months, it is carefully cultivated. When ripe, in 
October, it is gathered in the field, by men who [that] go 
from hill to hill with baskets, into which they put the ears. 
The leaves and stalks are then collected for winter use ; 
•and they not only serve as food for cattle and sheep, but 
are excellent in the making of sheds to protect animals 
against the inclemency of the weather." 



32 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

30. Prepositions are not very numerous, and, though 
you will be taught to be very careful in using them, the 
above sentence will be quite sufficient to enable you tc 
know the words belonging to this Part of Speech from the 
words belonging to any other Part of Speech. 

31. CONJUNCTIONS are so called because they con- 
join, or join together, words, or parts of sentences : as, " Peas 
and Beans may be severed from the ground before they be 
[are] quite dry ; but they must not be put into sacks or 
[nor] barns until perfectly dry, for, if they be [are], they 
will mold." The word and joins together the words Peas 
and Beans, and, by the means of this junction, makes all 
the remaining part of the sentence apply to both. The 
word but connects the first with the second members of the 
sentence. The word for, which is sometimes a Conjunc- 
tion, performs, in this case, the same office as the word but : 
it continues the connection ; and thus does every part of 
the sentence apply to each of the two nouns which [that] 
are the subject of it. 

32. INTERJECTIONS. This name comes from two 
Latin words : inter, which means between, and jectio, which 
means something thrown. So that the full, literal meaning 
of the word is something thrown between. The Interjec- 
tions are Ah! Oh! Alas ! and such like, which, indeed, 
are not words, because they have no definite meaning. 
They are mere sounds, and they have been mentioned by 
me merely because other grammarians have considered 
them as being a Part of Speech. But this one notice of 
them will be quite sufficient. 

33. Thus, then, you are now able to distinguish, in 
many cases at least, to what Part of Speech belongs each of 
the several words which [that] may come under your obser- 
vation. I shall now proceed to the Etymology of each of 



iv.] OF ARTICLES. 33 

these Parts of Speech. As we have done with the Interjec- 
tions, there will remain only eight Parts to treat of, and this 
I shall do in eight Letters, allotting one Letter to each Part 
of Speech. 



LETTER IV. 

ETYMOLOGY OF ARTICLES. 



My dear James : 

34. In Letter III, paragraph 13, you have seen what 
sort of words Articles are ; that is to say, you have there 
learned how to distinguish the words belonging to this Part 
of Speech from words belonging to other Parts of Speech. 
You must now turn to Letter II, paragraph 8. Having 
read what you find there under the head of Etymology , you 
will see at once, that my business, in this present Letter, is 
to teach you those principles and rules according to which 
Articles are varied in order to make them suit the different 
circumstances which [that] they are used to express. 

35. You have seen that there are but three Articles, 
namely, A or AN, and THE. The two former are, in fact, 
the same word, but of this I shall say more presently. They 
are called indefi.7iite Articles, because they do not define, or 
detennine, what particular object is spoken of. The Nouns, 
to which they are prefixed, only serve [serve only] to point 
out the sort of person or thing spoken of, without defining 
what person or what thing ; as, a tree is Mowed [blown] 
down* From this we learn that some tree is blowed [blown] 

* For a defense of the use of this form of the past participle see 
paragraph 109. In the use of language, however, we must go with the 
stream, a fact Mr. Cobbett seems in this instance to have overlooked. 
3 



34 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

down, but not what tree. But the definite Article THE 
determines the particular object of which we speak ; as, the 
tree which [that] stood close beside the barn is blowed [blown] 
down. In this last instance, we are not only informed that 
a tree is blowed [blown] down, but the sentence also informs 
us what particular tree it is. The Article is used before nouns 
in the plural as well as before nouns in the singular number. 
It is sometimes used before words expressive of degrees of 
comparison : as, the best, the worst, the highest, the lowest. 
When we use a noun in the singular number to express a 
whole species or sort, we use the definite Article ; thus,we say, 
the oak is a fine tree, when we mean that oaks are fine trees. 
36. The Article A becomes AN when this Article 
comes immediately before any word which [that] begins 
with a vowel. This is for the sake of the sound, as, an ad- 
der, an elephant, an inch, an oily seed, an ugly hat. The 
word an is also used before words which [that] begin with 
an h which [that] is mute ; that is to say, which [that], 
though used in writing, is not sounded in speaking : as, an 
hour. This little variation in the article is, as I said be- 
fore, for the sake of the sound ; for, it would be very disa- 
greeable to say a adder, a elephant, a inch, a oily seed, a ugly 
hat, a hour, and the like. But a is used in the usual way 
before words which [that] begin with an h which [that] is 
sounded in speaking ; as, a horse, a hair, and the like. The 
indefinite Article can be used before nouns in the singular 
number only. There is a seeming exception to this rule in 
cases where the words few and many come before the noun : 
as, a few horses ; a great many horses ; but, in reality, this 
is not an exception, because the words few and many mean 
number j thus, a small number of horses, a great number of 
horses ; and the indefinite Article agrees with this word 
number, which is understood, and which is in the singular. 



v.] OF NOUNS. 35 



LETTER V. 

ETYMOLOGY OF NOUNS. 

37. This, my dear James, is a letter of great impor- 
tance, and, therefore, it will require great attention from 
you. Before you proceed further, you will again look well 
at Letter II, paragraph 8, and then at Letter III, para- 
graphs 14, 15, and 16, and there read carefully everything 
under the head of Noims. 

88. Now, then, as Letter III has taught you how to 
distinguish Nouns from the words which [that] belong to 
the other Parts of Speech, the business here is to teach you 
the principles and rules according to which Nouns are to 
be varied in the letters of which they are composed, accord- 
ing to which they are to be used, and according to which 
they are to be considered in their bearing upon other words 
in the sentences in which they are used. 

39. In a Noun there are to be considered the branches, 
the nwnbers, the genders, and the cases : and all these must 
be attended to very carefully. 

40. THE BRANCHES. There are two ; for Nouns 
are some of them proper and some common. A Noun is 
called proper when it is used to distinguish one particular 
individual from the rest of the individuals of the same spe- 
cies, or kind ; as, James, Botley, Hampshire. The Noun is 
called commo)i when it applies to all the individuals of a 
kind ; as, Man, Village, County. Botley is a proper Noun, 
because all villages have not this name ; but Village is a 
common Noun, because all villages are called by that name ; 
the name is commo7i to them all. Several persons have the 
name of James, to be sure, and there is a Hampshire in 
America as well as in England ; but, still, these are proper 



36 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

names, because the former is not common to all men, nor 
the latter to all counties. Proper Nouns take no articles 
before them, because the extent of their meaning is clearly 
pointed out in the word itself. In figurative language, of 
which you will know more by-and-by, we sometimes, how- 
ever, use the article ; as, " Goldsmith is a very pretty poet, 
but not to be compared to the Popes, the Drydens, or the 
Otways." And again : " I wish I had the wit of a Swift." 
We also use the definite article before proper Nouns, when 
a common Noun is understood to be left out ; as, The Del- 
aware, meaning the River Delaware. Also when we speak 
of more than one person of the same name ; as, The Hen- 
ries, the Edwards. 

41. THE NUMBERS* These are the Singular and 
the Plural. The Singular is the original word ; and, in 
general, the Plural is formed by adding an s to the singu- 
lar ; as, dog, dogs. But though the greater part of our Nouns 
form their plurals from the singular in this simple manner, 
there are many which [that] do not ; while there are some 
Nouns which [that] have no plural number at all, and some 
which [that] have no singular. Therefore, considering the 
above to be the First Rule, I shall add other rules with 
regard to the Nouns which [that] do not follow that Rule. 
— The Second Rule. Nouns, the singular numbers of 
which end in ch, s, sh t or x, require es to be added in order 
to form their plural number : as, church, churches ; brush, 
brushes ; lass, lasses; fox, foxes. — The Third Rule is 
that Nouns which [that] end in y, when the y has a conso- 
nant coming immediately before it, change thejy into ies in 
forming their plurals ; as, quantity, quantities. But you 
must mind that, if the y be not immediately preceded by a 
consonant, the words follow the First Rule, and take only 
an s in addition to their singular ; as, day, days. I am the 



v.] OF NOUNS. 37 

more anxious to guard you against error as to this matter 
because it is very common to see men of high rank and pro- 
fession writing vallies, vollies, attornies, correspondencies ', 
conveniences, and the like, and yet all these are erroneous. 
Correspondence and inconvenience should have simply an s : 
for they end in e and not in y. — The Fourth Rule is that 
Nouns which [that] end in a single f or in fe, form their 
plurals by changing the for fe into ves ; as, loaf loaves ; 
wife, wives. But this rule has exceptions, in the following 
words, which follow the First Rule : Dwarf, scarf, mis- 
chief, handkerchief, chief, relief, grief. The two last are 
seldom used in the plural number ; but, as they sometimes 
are, I have included them.— The Fifth Rule is that the 
following Nouns have their plural in en : man, men ; wom- 
an, women ; ox, oxen ; child, children. And brethren is used 
sometimes as the plural of brother. — The Sixth Rule is that 
all [nouns] which [that] nature, or art, or habit, has made 
plural, have no singular ; as, ashes, annals, bellows, bowels, 
thanks, breeches, entrails, lungs, scissors, snuffers, tongs, 
wages, and some others. There are also some Nouns which 
[that] have no plurals, such as those which [that] express 
the qualities, or propensities, or feelings, of the mind or 
heart ; as, honesty, meekness, compassion. There are, fur- 
ther, several names of herbs, metals, minerals, liquids, and 
of fleshy substances, which [that] have no plurals ; to which 
may be added the names of almost all sorts of grain. There 
are exceptions here ; for while Wheat has no plural, Oats 
has seldom any singular. But all these words, and others 
which [that] are irregular, in a similar way, are of such very 
common use that you will hardly ever make a mistake in 
applying them ; for I will not suppose it possible for my 
dear James to fall into either the company or the language 
of those who [that] talk, and even write, about Barleys, 

• - 



33 



ETYMOLOGY 



[letter 



Wheats, Clovers, Flours, Grasses, and Malts. There re- 
main to be noticed, however, some words which [that] are 
too irregular in the forming of their plurals to be brought 
under any distinct head even of irregularity. I will, there- 
fore, insert these as they are used in both numbers. 



SINGULAR. 


PLURAL. 


SINGULAR. 


PLURAL. 


Die, 


Dice. 


Goose, 


Geese. 


Mouse, 


Mice. 


Penny, 


Pence. 


Louse, 


Lice. 


Tooth, 


Teeth. 


Deer, 


Deer. 


Foot, 


Feet. 



42. THE GENDERS. In the French language, and 
many other languages, every Noun is of the masculine or 
of the feminine gender. Hand, for instance, is of the femi- 
nine, and arm of the masculine, pen of the feminine, and 
paper of the masculine. This is not the case with our lan- 
guage, which, in this respect, has followed the order of na- 
ture. The names of all males are of the masculine gender ; 
the names of all females are of the feminine gender ; and 
all other Nouns are of the neuter gender. And, you must 
observe that, even in speaking [in speaking even] of living 
creatures, of which we do not know the gender, we consid- 
er them to be of the neuter. In strictness of language, we 
could not, perhaps, apply the term gender to things desti- 
tute of all sexual properties ; but, as it is applied with per- 
fect propriety in the case of males and females, and as the 
application in the case of inanimate or vegetable matter can 
lead to no grammatical error, I have thought it best to fol- 
low, in this respect, the example of other grammarians. It 
may be said that the rule which [that] I have here laid down 
as being without any exception, has many exceptions ; for 
that, in speaking of a ship, we say she and her. And you 
know our country folks in Hampshire call almost every- 



v.] OF NOUNS. 39 

thing he or she. Sailors have, for ages, called their vessels 
shes, and it has been found easier to adopt than to eradi- 
cate the vulgarism, which is not only tolerated but cher- 
ished by that just admiration in which our country holds 
the species of skill and of valor to which it owes much of 
its greatness and renown. It is curious to observe that 
country laborers give the feminine appellations to those 
things only which [that] are more closely identified with 
themselves, and by the qualities and condition of which 
their own efforts and their character as workmen are 
affected. The mower calls his scythe a she y the plowman 
calls his plow a she ; but a prong, or a shovel, or a har- 
row, which passes promiscuously from hand to hand, and 
which is appropriated to no particular laborer, is called a 
he. It was, doubtless, from this sort of habitual attachment 
that our famous maritime solecism arose. The deeds of 
laborers in the fields and of artisans in their shops are not 
of public interest sufficiently commanding to enable them 
to break in upon the principles of language ; if they were, 
we should soon have as many hes and shes as the French, 
or any other nation in the world. 

43. While, however, I lay down this rule as required 
by strict grammatical correctness, I must not omit to ob- 
serve that the license allowed to figurative language enables 
us to give the masculine or feminine gender to inanimate 
objects. This has been justly regarded as a great advan- 
tage in our language. We can, whenever our subject will 
justify it, transform into masculine, or into feminine, nouns 
which [that] are, strictly speaking, neuter ; and thus, by 
giving the functions of life to inanimate objects, enliven 
and elevate our style, and give to our expressions great ad- 
ditional dignity and force. 

44. THE CASES OF NOUNS. The word case, as 



40 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

applied to the concerns of life, has a variety of meanings, 
or of different shades of meaning ; but, its general meaning 
is state of things ■, or state of something. Thus we say, " In 
that case, I agree with you." Meaning, " that being the 
state of things, or that being the state of the matter, I agree 
with you." Lawyers are said "to make out their case ; 
or not to make out their case;" meaning the state of the 
matter which [that] they have undertaken to prove. So, 
when we say that a horse is in good case, we mean that he 
is in a good state. Nouns may be in different states, or situ- 
ations, as to other Nouns, or other words. For instance, a 
Noun may be the name of a person who [that] strikes a 
horse, or of a person who [that] possesses a horse, or of a 
person whom [that] a horse kicks. And these different 
situations, or states, are, therefore, called cases. 

45. You will not fully comprehend the use of these 
distinctions till you come to the Letter on Verbs ; but it is 
necessary to explain here the nature of these cases, in order 
that you may be prepared well for the use of the terms, 
when I come to speak of the Verbs. In the Latin lan- 
guage each Noun has several different endings, in order to 
denote the different cases in which it may be. In our lan- 
guage there is but one of the cases of Nouns which [that] 
is expressed or denoted by a change in the ending of the 
Noun ; and of this change I will [shall ?] speak presently. 

46. There are three Cases : the No?ninative, the Pos- 
sessive, and the Objective. A Noun is in the Nominative 
case when it denotes a person, or thing, which [that] does 
something or is something : as, Richard strikes ; Richard is 
good. 

47. A Noun is in the Possessive case when it names 
a person or thing that possesses some other person or thing, 
or when there is one of the persons or things belonging to 



v.] OF NOUNS. 4* 

the other; as, Richard's hat ; the mountain's top ; the na- 
tion's fleet. Here Richard, mountain, and nation, are in 
the possessive case, because they denote persons or things 
which [that] possess other persons or things, or have other 
persons or things belonging to them* And here is that 
change in the ending of the Noun of which I spoke above. 
You see that Richard, mountain, nation, has, each of them, 
an s added to it, and a mark of elision over ; that is to say, 
a comma, placed above the line, between the last letter of 
the word and the s. This is done for the purpose of distin- 
guishing this case from the plural number ; or, at least, it 
answers the purpose in all cases where the plural of the 
Noun would end in an s ; though there are different opin- 
ions as to the origin of its use. In Nouns which [that] do 
not end their plural in s, the mark of elision would not ap- 
pear to be absolutely necessary. We might write mans 
mind, zaomans heart, but it is best to use the mark of elision. 
When plural Nouns end with s, you must not add an s to 
form the possessive case, but put the elision mark only 
after the s which [that] ends the Noun ; as, mountains' 
top ; nations' fleets ; lasses' charms. Observe, however, 
that, in every instance, the possessive case maybe expressed 
by a turn of the words ; as, the hat of Richard ; the top of 
the ?nountain ; the fleet of the nation; the mind of man; 
and so on. The Nouns, notwithstanding this turn of the 
words, are still in the possessive case ; and, as to when one 
mode of expression is best [the better] and when the other, 
it is a matter which [that] must be left to taste. 

[In the sentence, The hat of Richard, Richard is said 
by most grammarians to be in the objective case after the 
preposition of. They say, The objective case after the 
preposition of is often equivalent to the possessive.] 

48. A Noun is in the Objective case when the per- 



42 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

son or thing that it names or denotes is the object, or end, 
of some act or of some movement, of some kind or other : 
Richard strikes Peter ; Richard gave a blow to Peter ; 
Richard goes after Peter ; Richard hates Peter ; Richard 
wants arms ; Richard seeks afterfa?ne; falsehood leads to 
mischief ; oppression produces resistance. Here you see 
that all these Nouns in the objective case are the object, the 
end, or the effect, of something done or felt by some person 
or thing, and which other person or thing is in the nomina- 
tive case. 



LETTER VI. 

ETYMOLOGY OF PRONOUNS. 



My dear James: 

49. You will now refer to paragraphs 17, 18, and 19, 
in Letter III ; which paragraphs will refresh your memory 
as to the general nature and use of Pronouns. Then, in pro- 
ceeding to become well acquainted with this Part of Speech, 
you will first observe that there are four classes, or de- 
scriptions, of Pronouns : first, the Personal ; second, the 
Relative; third, the Demonstrative ; and, fourth, the In- 
definite. 

50. In PERSONAL PRONOUNS there are four 
things to be considered : the person, the number, the gen- 
der, and the case. 

51. There are three persons. The Pronoun which 
[that] represents, or stands in the place of, the name of the 
person who [that] speaks, is called the first person ; that 
which [that] stands in the place of the name of the person 
who [that] is spoken to, is called the second person ; that 
which [that] stands in the place of the name of the person 



Vi.] OF PRONOUNS. 43 

who [that] is spoken of, is called the third person. For ex- 
ample : "/am asking you about him" This circumstance 
of person you will by-and-by find to be of great moment ; 
because, as you will see, the verbs vary their endings some- 
times to correspond with the person of the Pronoun ; and, 
therefore, you ought to pay strict attention to it at the out- 
set. 

52. The number is either singular or plural, and the 
Pronouns vary their spelling to express a difference of num- 
ber ; as in this table, which shows, at once, all the persons 
and all the numbers. 

SINGULAR. PLURAL. 

First person I, We. 

Second person Thou, You. 

Third person He, They. 

53. The next thing is the gender. The Pronouns of 
the first and second person have no changes to express 
gender ; but the third person singular has changes for that 
purpose: he, she f or it ; and I need not point out to you 
the cases where one of these ought to be used instead of 
the other. 

54. The case is the last thing to be considered in per- 
sonal Pronouns. The meaning of the word case, as used in 
the rules of Grammar, I have fully explained to you in Let- 
ter V, paragraph 44. In paragraphs 45, 46, 47, and 48, in 
the same Letter, I have treated of the distinction between 
the cases. Read all those paragraphs again before you 
proceed further : for now you will rind their meaning more 
clearly explained to you ; because the personal Pronouns, 
and also some of the other Pronouns, have different endings % 
or are composed of different letters, in order to point out the 
different cases in which they are : as, he, his, him. 

55. The Personal Pronouns have, like the nouns, three 



44 



ETYMOLOGY 



[letter 



cases : the Nominative, the Possessive, and the Objective. 
The following table exhibits the whole of them at one view, 
with all the circumstances of person, number, gender, and 
case. 

SINGULAR NUMBER. 



First Person 
Second Person 



Nominative. 

i, 

Thou, 



(- Mas. Gen. He, 

Third J Femin. She, 
Person 

I: 



. Neuter 



it, 



Possessive. 
My, 
Mine, 
Thy, 
Thine, 
His, 
Her, 
Hers, 
Its, 



\ My, > 

( Mine, \ 

\ Thy ' \ 

} Thine, J 



Objective. 

Me. 

Thee. 
Him. 
Her. 
It. 



PLURAL NUMBER. 



First Person 
Second Person, 



Nominative. 
We, 

You, 



Possessive. 



\ Our, ) 

\ Ours, S 



Our, 
Ours, 

Your, 
Yours, 



Third ^ Mas - Gen * They ' 
Femin. They, 



Person j 



Neuter 



They, 



Their, 
Theirs, 



Objective. 

Us. 

You. 
Them. 



56. Upon this table there are some remarks to be at- 
tended to. In the possessive cases of /, Thou, She, We, 
You, and They, there are two different words ; as, My, or 
Mine j but you know that the former is used when fol- 
lowed by the name of the person or thing possessed ; and 
that the latter is used when not so followed : as, " This is 
my pen ; this pen is mine." And it is the same with regard 
to the possessive cases of Thou, She, We, You, and They, 



vi.] OF PRONOUNS. 45 

57. Thou is here given as the second person singular; 
but common custom has set aside the rules of Grammar in 
this case ; and though we, in particular cases, still make 
use of Thou and Thee, we generally make use of You in- 
stead of either of them. According to ancient rule and 
custom this is not correct ; but what a whole people adopts 
and universally practices must, in such cases, be deemed 
correct, and to be a superseding of ancient rule and custom. 

58. Instead of you the ancient practice was to put ye 
in the nominative case of the second person plural ; but 
this practice is now laid aside, except in cases which [that] 
very seldom occur ; but whenever^ is made use of, it must 
be in the nominative, and never in the objective, case. I 
may, speaking to several persons, say, "Ye have injured 
me ; " but not " I have injured^." 

59. The words self and selves are sometimes added to 
the personal Pronouns; as, myself, thyself, himself; but, 
as these compounded words are liable to no variations that 
can possibly lead to error, it will be useless to do anything 
further than just to notice them. 

60. The Pronoun it, though a personal Pronoun, does 
not always stand for, or at least appear to stand for, any 
noun whatever ; but is used in order to point out a state of 
things, or the cause of something produced. For instance : 
" It freezed [froze] hard last night, and it was so cold that 
it was with great difficulty the travelers kept on their 
journey." Now, what was it that freezed [froze] so hard ? 
Not the frost ; because the frost is the effect, and not the 
cause of freezing. We can not say that it was the weather 
that freezed [froze] ; because the freezing constituted in 
part the weather itself. No ; the Pronoun it stands, in this 
place, for state of things, or circumstances ; and this sen- 
tence might be written thus : " The freezing was so hard 



46 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

last night, and the cold was so severe, that the travelers 
found great difficulty in keeping on their journey." Let 
us take another example or two : " // [there] is a frost this 
morning. // will rain to-night. // will be fine to-morrow." 
That is to say, " A state of things called frost exists this 
morning ; a state of things called rain will exist to-night ; 
and to-morrow a state of things [will exist] called fine 
weather." Another example: "It is delightful to see 
brothers and sisters living in uninterrupted love to the end 
of their days." That is to say, " The state of things which 
[that] exhibits brothers and sisters living in uninterrupted 
love to the end of their days is delightful to see." The 
Pronoun it is, in this its impersonal capacity, used in a 
great variety of instances ; but I forbear to extend my re- 
marks on the subject here ; because those remarks will find 
a more suitable place when I come to another part of my 
instructions. I have said enough here to prevent the puz- 
zling that might have arisen from your perceiving that the 
Pronoun it was sometimes used without your being able to 
trace its connection with any noun either expressed or un- 
derstood. 

61. In order, however, further to illustrate this mat- 
ter in this place, I will make a remark or two upon the use 
of the word there. Example : " There are many men, who 
[that] have been at Latin schools for years, and who [that], 
at last, can not write six sentences in English correctly." 
Now, you know, the word there, in its usual sense, has ref- 
erence to place ; yet it has no such reference here. The 
meaning is that "Many men are in existence who [that] 
have been at Latin schools." Again : " There never was 
anything so beautiful as that flower." That is to say, 
" Anything so beautiful as that flower never [before] existed^ 
or never [before] was in being?' 



vi.] OF PRONOUNS. 47 

62. We now come to the RELATIVE PRONOUNS, 

of which class there are only three : namely, Who, Which, 
and That. The two latter always remain the same, through 
all numbers, genders, and cases ; but the Pronoun who 
changes its endings in order to express the possessive and 
objective cases : as, who, whose, whom. 

63. These Pronouns are called relative, because they 
always relate directly to some Noun or some personal Pro- 
noun, or to some combination of words, which is called the 
antecedent ; that is to say, the person or \\rmg going before. 
Thus : "The soldier who [that} was killed at the siege/' 
Soldier is the antecedent. Again : " The men, if I am right- 
ly informed, who [that-] came hither last night, who [-that] 
went away this morning, whose money you have received, 
and to whom you gave a receipt, are natives of South 
America." Men is here the antecedent ; and in this sen- 
tence there are all the variations to which this Pronoun is 
liable. 

64. Who, whose, and whom can not be used correct- 
ly as relatives to any Nouns or Pronouns which [that] do 
not represent men, women, or children. It is not correct to 
say, the horse, or the dog, or the tree, who [that] was so 
and so ; or to whom was done this or that ; or whose color, 
or anything else, was such or such. But the word That, as 
a relative Pronoun, may be applied to nouns of all sorts ; 
as, the boy that ran ; the horse that galloped ; the tree that 
was blowed [blown] down. 

65. Which, as a relative Pronoun, is confined to irra- 
tional creatures, and here it may be used as a relative indif- 
ferently with that; as, the horse -which [that] galloped ; the 
tree which [that] was blowed [blown] down. This appli- 
cation of the relative which solely to irrational creatures is, 
however, of modern date ; for, in the Lord's Prayer, in the 



48 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

English Church Service, we say, " Our Father which art in 
heaven."* In the American Liturgy this error has been 
corrected ; and they say, " Our Father who art in heaven." 

66. I can not, even for the present, quit these relative 
Pronouns without observing to you that they are words of 
vast importance, and that more errors, and errors of greater 
consequence, arise from a misapplication of them than from 
the misapplication of almost all the other classes of words 
put together. The reason is this, they are relatives, and 
they frequently stand as the representatives of that which 
[t-hat] has gone before, and which {that] stands in a distant 
part of the sentence. This will be more fully explained 
when I come to the Syntax of Pronouns ; but the matter is 
of such [so] great moment that I could not refrain from giv- 
ing you an intimation of it here. 

67. The DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS are so 
called because they more particularly mark or demon- 
strate the nouns before which they are placed, or for which 
they sometimes stand. They are, This, These, That, 
Those, and What, The use of them is so well known, and 
is liable to so little error, that my chief object in giving 
them this separate place is to show you the difference be- 
tween That, when a relative, and when not a relative. Take 
an example : " That man is not the man, as far as I am 
able to discover, that came hither last night." The first of 

* In Shakespeare we have — 

44 Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt, 
Which did subdue the greater part of Spain." 

3 Henry VI, iii, 3. 
14 Abhorred slave 
Which any point of goodness will not take." 

Temfiest, i, 2. 

"And thou, great goddess Nature, which hast made it." 

Winter's Tale, ii, 3. 



vi.] OF PRONOUNS, 49 

these Thats does not relate to the man ; it merely points 
him out ; but the latter relates to him, carries you back to 
him, and supplies the place of repetition. This same word, 
That % is sometimes a Conjunction : as, " That man is not 
the man, as far as I can discover, that came hither last 
night, a'nd that was so ill that he could hardly walk." The 
relative is repeated in the third That ; but the fourth That 
is merely a conjunction serving to connect the effect of the 
illness with the cause. 

68. Perhaps a profound examination of the matter 
would lead to a proof of That ['s] being always a Pronoun ; 
but, as such examination would be more curious than use- 
ful, I shall content myself with having clearly shown you 
the difference in its offices, as a relative, as a demonstrative, 
and as a conjunction, 

69. What, together with who, whose, whom, and which, 
are [is?] employed in asking questions ; and are sometimes 
ranged under a separate head, and called interrogative Pro- 
nouns. I have thought this unnecessary ; but here is an 
observation of importance to attend to ; for which, though 
as a relative it can not be applied to the intellectual species, 
is, as an interrogative, properly applied to that species : as, 
" Which man was it who [that] spoke to you ? " 

70. What sometimes stands for both noun and rela- 
tive Pronoun : as, " What I want is well known." That is 
to say, " The thing which [that] I want is well known.'' 
Indeed, what has, in all cases, this extended signification ; 
for when, in the way of inquiry as to words which [that] we 
have not clearly understood, we say, What? our full mean- 
ing is, " Repeat to us that which [that] you have said," or, 
" the words which [that] you have spoken." 

71. The INDETERMINATE PRONOUNS are so 

called because they express their objects in a general and 
4 



50 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

indeterminate manner. Several of them are also adjectives. 
It is only where they are employed alone, that is to say, 
without nouns, that they ought to be regarded as Pronouns. 
For instance : " One is always hearing of the unhappiness 
of one person or another" The first of these ones is a Pro- 
noun ; the last is an Adjective, as is also the word another ; 
for a noun is understood to follow, though it is not ex- 
pressed. These Pronouns are as follow : One, any, each, 
none, some, other, every, either, many, whoever, whatever, 
neither, and some few others, but all of them [are] words 
invariable in their orthography, and all [are] of very com- 
mon use. 



LETTER VII. 

ETYMOLOGY OF ADJECTIVES. 



My dear James : 

72. In Letter III, paragraph 21, I have described what 
an Adjective is. You will, therefore, now read that para- 
graph carefully over, before we proceed in studying [to 
study] the contents of the present Letter. 

73. The adjectives have no changes to express gen- 
der or case ; but they have changes to express degrees of 
comparison. As Adjectives describe the qualities and prop- 
erties of nouns, and as these may be possessed in a degree 
higher in one case than in another, Adjectives have degrees 
of comparison ; that is to say, changes in their endings, to 
suit these varying circumstances. A tree may be high, but 
another may be higher, and a third may be the highest. 
Adjectives have, then, these three degrees : the first degree, 
or rather the primitive word, is called the Positive ; the 
second, the Comparative ; the third, the Superlative. For 



vii.] OF ADJECTIVES. 51 

the forming of these degrees I shall give you four rules ; 
and, if you pay strict attention to these rules, you will need 
to be told very little more about this Part of Speech. 

74. First Rule. Adjectives in general, which [that] 
end in a consonant, form their comparative degree by add- 
ing er to the positive, and form their superlative degree by 
adding est to the positive ; as, 

POSITIVE. COMPARATIVE. SUPERLATIVE. 

Rich, Richer, Richest. 

75. Second Rule. Adjectives which [that] end in e y 
add, in forming their comparative, only an r, and in form- 
ing their superlative, st ; as, 

POSITIVE. COMPARATIVE. SUPERLATIVE. 

Wise, Wiser, W T isest. 

76. Third Rule. When the positive ends in d y g, or /, 
and when these consonants are, at the same time, preceded 
by a single vowel, the consonant is doubled in forming the 
comparative and superlative ; as, 



POSITIVE. 


COMPARATIVE. 


SUPERLATIVE, 


Red, 


Redder, 


Reddest. 


Big, 


Bigger, 


Biggest. 


Hot, 


Hotter, 


Hottest. 



But, if the d, g, or t, be preceded by another consonant, 
or by more than one vowel, the final consonant is not 
doubled in the forming of the two latter degrees ; as, 

POSITIVE. COMPARATIVE. SUPERLATIVE. 

Kind, Kinder, Kindest. 

Neat, Neater, Neatest. 

77. Fourth Rule. When the positive ends in^/, pre- 
ceded by a consonant, the y changes into ie in the other 
degrees. 



52 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

POSITIVE. COMPARATIVE. SUPERLATIVE. 

Lovely, Lovelier, Loveliest. 

Pretty, Prettier, Prettiest. 

78. There are some Adjectives which [that] can be re- 
duced to no rule, and which [that] must be considered as 
irregular ; as, 

POSITIVE. COMPARATIVE. SUPERLATIVE. 

Good, Better, Best. 

Bad, Worse, Worst. 

Little, Less, Least. 

Much, More, Most. 

79. Some Adjectives can have no degrees of compari- 
son, because their signification admits of no augmentation ; 
as, all, each, every, any, several, some ; and all the numeri- 
cal Adjectives ; as, one, two, three ; first, second, third, 

80. Adjectives which [that] end in most are superlative, 
and admit of no change ; as, utmost, uppermost. 

81. However, you will observe that all Adjectives which 
[that] admit of comparison may form their degrees by the 
use of the words more and most ; as, 



POSITIVE. 


COMPARATIVE. 


SUPERLATIVE. 


Rich, 


More rich, 


Most rich. 


Tender, 


More tender, 


Most tender. 



When the positive contains but one syllable, the degrees are 
usually formed by adding to the positive according to the 
four rules. When the positive contains two syllables, it is a 
matter of taste which method you shall use in forming the 
degrees. The ear is, in this case, the best guide. But 
when the positive contains more than two syllables, the de- 
grees must be formed by the use of more and most. We may 
say tender and tenderest, pleasanter and pleasantest, prettier 
zxAprettiest ; but who could tolerate delicater and delicatest? 



-viii.] OF VERBS. 53 



LETTER VIII. 
etymology of verbs. 

My dear James: 

82. The first thing you have to do in beginning your 
study, as to this important Part of Speech, is to read again 
very slowly and carefully paragraphs 23, 24, 25, and 26, in 
Letter III. Having, by well attending to what is said in 
those paragraphs, learned to distinguish Verbs from the 
words belonging to other Parts of Speech, you will now 
enter, with a clear head, on an inquiry into the variations to 
which the words of this Part of Speech are liable. 

83. Sorts of Verbs. Verbs are considered as active ', 
passive, or neuter. A Verb is called active when it ex- 
presses an action which [that] is produced by the nomina- 
tive of the sentence ; as, " Pitt restrained the Bank." It is 
passive when it expresses an action which [that] is received, 
or endured, by the person or thing which [that] is the nom- 
inative of the sentence ; as, " the Bank is restrained" It 
is neuter when it expresses simply the state of being, or 
existence, or a person or thing ; as, " Dick lies in bed ; " or, 
when it expresses an action confined within the actor. 

[The most modern classification of verbs is into active- 
transitive, active-intransitive, and neuter.] 

84. It is of great consequence that you clearly under^ 
stand these distinctions, because I shall, by-and-by, use 
these terms very frequently. And in order to give you a 
[omit] proof of the necessity of attending to these distinct 
tions, I will here give you a specimen of the errors which 
[that] are sometimes committed by those who [that] do not 
understand Grammar. This last-mentioned Verb, to lie, 
becomes, in the past time, lay. Thus : Cl Dick lies on a 



54 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

bed now, but some time ago, he lay on the floor." This 
Verb is often confounded with the Verb to lay, which is an 
active Verb, and which becomes, in its past time, laid. 
Thus : " I lay my hat on the table to-day, but, yesterday, I 
laid it on the shelf." Let us take another instance, in order 
the more clearly to explain this matter. A Verb may some- 
times be what we call a neuter Verb, though it expresses an 
action ; but this happens when the action is confined within 
the actor ; that is to say, when there is no object to which 
the action passes. Strike is clearly an active Verb, because 
something is stricken [struck] ; a stroke is given to, or put 
upon, something. But in the case of to rise, though there 
is an action, it passes on to" no object ; as, / rise early. 
Here is no object to which the action passes. But to raise 
is an active Verb, because the action passes on to an ob- 
ject ; as, I raise a stick, I raise my hand, I raise my head, 
and also, I raise myself ; because, though in this last in- 
stance the action is confined to me, it is understood that my 
mind gives the motion to my body. These two Verbs are, 
in speaking and writing, incessantly [continually] confound- 
ed ; though one is a neuter and the other an active Verb, 
though one is regular and the other irregular, or [and] 
though they are not, in any person, time, or mode, com- 
posed of the same letters. This confusion could never take 
place if attention were paid to the principle above laid 
down. 

85. Having thus given you the means of distinguishing 
the sorts of Verbs, I now proceed to matters which [that] 
are common to all the sorts. There are four things to be 
considered in a verb : the person, the number, the time, and 
the mode. 

86. The Person. — Read again Letter VI, on the Ety- 
mology of Pronouns, You will there clearly see the use of 



viil] OF VERBS. 55 

this distinction about Persons ; and, as I have told you, you 
will find that it is a matter of great consequence ; because 
it will now, at once, be evident to you that, unless the dis- 
tinction of person be attended to, almost every sentence 
must be erroneous. 

87- The Verb must agree in person with the Noun or 
the Pronoun which [that] is the nominative of the sentence. 
Look back at Letter V, and at paragraphs 44, 45, 46, and 
47, in order to refresh your memory as to the nominative 
and other cases. The Verb, then, must agree with the 
nominative : as, "I write ; he writes" To say, " I writes ; 
he write" would be both erroneous. 

88. Look back at the explanation about the persons in 
the Etymology of Pronouns in Letter VI. There are three 
persons ; but our Verbs have no variation in their spelling, 
except for the third person singular. For we say, " I write, 
you write, we write, they write ; " and only ' ' he, she, or it 
writes^ This, then, is a very plain matter. 

89. Number is a matter equally plain, seeing that our 
Verbs do not, except in one or two instances, vary their 
endings, to express number. But when several nouns or 
pronouns come together, care must be taken to make the 
Verb agree with them : as, " Knight and Johnstone resist 
the tyrants." Not resists. But this will be more fully dwelt 
on in the Syntax. 

90. The Time. — The Verb has variations to express the 
time of an action : as, " Sidmouth writes a Circular Letter ; 
Sidmouth wrote a Circular Letter ; Sidmouth will write a 
Circular Letter." Again : " The Queen defies the tyrants ; 
the Queen defied the tyrants ; the Queen will defy the ty- 
rants." The Ti?nes of a Verb are, therefore, called the 
present, the past, and the future. 

91. The Modes. — The Modes [or Moods] of Verbs are 



56 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

the different manners of expressing an action or a state of 
being, which manners are sometimes positive, sometimes 
conditional, and sometimes indeterminate ; and there are 
changes or variations in the spelling or writing of the 
Verb, or of the little words used with the Verb, in order to 
express this difference in manner and sense. I will give 
you an instance : " He walks fast." " If he walk fast, he 
will fatigue himself." In most other languages the Verb 
changes its form very often and very much, to make it ex- 
press the different modes. In ours it does not ; because we 
have little words called signs, which we use with the Verbs 
instead of varying the form of the Verbs themselves. To 
make the matter clear, I will give you an example of the 
English compared with the French language in this re- 
spect. 

E. F. 

I march Je marche, 

I marched Je marchais, 

I might march Je marchasse, 

I should march Je marcherais. 

There are other variations in the French Verb ; but we ef- 
fect the purposes of these variations by the use of the signs, 
shall, may, might, could, would, and others. 

92. The Modes are four in number : the injinitive, the 
indicative, the subjunctive, and the imperative. Besides 
these there are the two participles, of which I shall speak 
presently. 

93. The Infinitive Mode is the Verb in its primitive 
state : as, to march. And this is called the Injinitive be- 
cause it is without bounds or limit. It merely expresses the 
action of marching, without any constraint as to person or 
number or time. The 'little word to makes, in fact, a part 
of the Verb, This word to is, of itself, a preposition ; but, 



viii.] OF VERBS. 57 

as prefixed to Verbs, it is merely a sign of the Infinitive 
Mode. In other languages there is no such sign. In the 
French, for instance, aller means to go ; ecrire means to write. 
Thus, then, you will bear in mind that in English, the to 
makes a part of the Verb itself, when in the Infinitive Mode. 

94. The Indicative Mode is that in which we express 
an action, or state of being, positively : that is to say, with- 
out any condition, or any dependent circumstance. It 
merely indicates the action or state of being, without being 
subjoined to anything which [that] renders the action or 
state of being dependent on any other action or state of 
being. Thus : "He writes.' 1 This is the Indicative. 

95. But the Subjunctive Mode comes into use when I 
say, " If he write, the guilty tyrants will be ready with their 
dungeons and axes." In this case there is something sub- 
joined ; and therefore this is called the Subjunctive Mode. 
Observe, however, that in our language there is no very 
great use in this distinction of modes ; because, for the most 
part, our little signs do the business, and they never vary 
in the letters of which they are composed. The distinction 
is useful only as regards the employment of Verbs without 
the signs, and where the signs are left to be understood ; as in 
the above case, " If he should write, the guilty tyrants would 
be ready." And observe, further, that when the signs are 
used, or understood, the Verb retains its original or primi- 
tive form throughout all the persons, numbers, and times. 

96. The Imperative Mode is mentioned here merely for 
form's sake. It is that state of the Verb which [that] com- 
mands, orders, bids, calls to, or invokes : as, come hither ; be 
good ; march away ; pay me. In other languages there are 
changes in the spelling of the Verbs to answer to this mode ; 
but in ours there are none of these ; and therefore the mat- 
ter is hardly worth notice, except as a mere matter of form. 



5 8 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

97. The Participles, however, are different in point of 
importance. They are of two sorts, the active and the 
passive. The former ends always in ing y and the latter is 
generally the same as the past time of the Verb out of which 
it grows. Thus : working is an active participle, and worked 
a passive participle. They are called participles because 
they partake of the qualities of other Parts of Speech as 
well as of Verbs. For instance : "I am working ; work- 
ing is laudable ; a working man is more worthy of honor 
than a titled plunderer who [that] lives in idleness." In 
the first instance working is a Verb, in the second a JVoun, 
in the third an Adjective. So in the case of the passive 
participle : I worked yesterday ; that is worked mortar. The 
first is a Verb, the last an Adjective. 

98. Thus have I gone through all the circumstances of 
change to which Verbs are liable. I will now give you the 
complete conjugation of a Verb. To \ conjugate, in its usual 
acceptation, means to join together ; and, as used by Gram- 
marians, it means to place under one view all the variations 
in the form of a Verb ; beginning with the Infinitive Mode 
and ending with a Participle. I will now lay before you, 
then, the conjugation of the Verb to work, exhibiting that 
Verb in all its persons, numbers, times, and modes. 

INFINITIVE MODE. 
To Work. 

INDICATIVE MODE. 



Present 
Time. 



Singular. Plural. 

I 1st Person. I work, We work. 

2d Person. Thou workest, You work. 

3d Person. \ He ' slie > or '* I They work. 

f works, ) 



VIII.] 



OF VERBS. 



59 



Past 
Time. 



Future 
Time. 



— I worked, 

— Thou workedst, 

— He worked, 

— I shall or will work 



— Thou shalt or wilt 
[ — He shall or will work, 



We worked. 
You worked. 
They worked. 
We shall or will 

work. 

atworkJ You sha11 or wil1 

( work. 

) They shall or will 

f work. 



SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 

If I work, or may, might, could, would, or should work. 

If thou work, or may work. 

If he, she, or it work, or may work. 

If we work, or may work. 

If you work, or may work. 

If they work, or may work. 



IMPERATIVE 
Let me work, 
Work thou, 
Let him work, 



MODE. 

Let us work. 
Work you. 
Let them work. 



PARTICIPLES. 

Active. — Working. 

Passive. — Worked. 
99. Some explanatory remarks are necessary here. The 
third person singular of the Indicative present used to be 
written with eth ; as, worketh ; but this spelling has long 
been disused. The past time may be formed by [with] did : 
as, did work, instead of worked ; and do ivork may be used 
in the present time ; but, in fact, these little words are a 
great deal more than mere marks of the times. They are 



60 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

used in one time to express the negative of another, or to 
affirm with more than ordinary emphasis. 

100. Grammarians generally make a present and a past 
time under the Subjunctive Mode ; but the truth is that any 
of the signs may apply to the present, past, or future of 
that Mode. These are little words of vast import and of 
constant use ; and though that use is so very difficult to be 
learned by foreigners, we ourselves never make mistakes 
with regard to it. The Verb to be alone changes its form 
in order to make a past time in the Subjunctive Mode. 

101. As to the Imperative Mode, where the Pronouns 
thou and you are put after the Verb, we seldom put the thou 
and the you. We make use of the Verb only, which is quite 
sufficient. 

102. Some Grammarians put in their conjugations what 
they call the compound times /as, I have worked \ I had 
worked, I shall have worked, I may have worked, and so on. 
But this can only serve [serve only] to fill up a book ; for 
all these consist merely in the introduction of the use of 
the Verb to have in its various parts. In the above conjuga- 
tion all the changes or variations of the Verb are exhibited ; 
and it is those changes and variations which [that], under 
the present head, form the important object of our inquiry. 

103. The Verbs to have and to be are of great use in our 
language. They are called auxiliary verbs. To let and to 
do are also called auxiliaries, but they are of far less im- 
portance than to have and to be. Before, however, I say 
more on the subject of these auxiliaries, I must speak of all 
the Verbs as regular or irregular, just observing here that 
the word auxiliary means helper, or helping. 

104. Verbs are called regular when they have their 
changes or variations according to a certain rule or man- 
ner. Thus : " I walk, I walked ; I work, I worked." But 



viii.] OF VERBS. 6 1 

I can not say, " I writed" I must say, " I wrote." Now 
observe that we call regular Verbs all those which [that] 
end their past time of the Indicative and their passive par- 
ticiple in ed; and if you now look back at the conjugation 
of the Verb to work, you will find that it is a regular Verb. 
Indeed, this is the case with almost all Verbs. But, there 
are some little irregularities even here, and they must be 
very well attended to, because a want of attention to them 
leads to very great errors even as to spelling. 

105. These little irregularities I shall notice under five 
separate heads ; and if you should forget at any time what 
has been said on the subject, a reference to these will in a 
moment set you right : 

I. The Verb to work is perfectly regular, for it has ed 
added to it in order to form the past time, and also in order 
to form the passive participle. It is the same with the Verbs 
to walk, to turn, to abandon, and many others. But if the 
Infinitive, that is to say, the primitive or original word, end 
in e, then d only is added in the past time and participle, 
and st instead of est after thou : as in the case of to move, 
which becomes moved and movest t You have seen, also, in 
the case of the Verb to work, that we add only an s to form 
the third person singular of the present of the Indicative : 
he works. But if the Infinitive end in h, s, x, or z, then es 
must be added ; as, to wish, he wishes ; to toss, he tosses ; to 
box, he boxes ; to buzz, he buzzes. 

II. When the Infinitive ends in y, and when that y has 
a consonant immediately before it, the y is changed into ie, 
to form the third person singular of the present of the In- 
dicative ; as, to reply, he replies. But (and I beg you to 
mark it well) if the ending y have a vowel immediately be- 
fore it, the Verb follows the general rule in the formation 
of the third person singular of the present of the Indicative ; 



62 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

as, to delay, he delays, and not he delates. It is the same in 
the second person singular ; as, to reply, thou repliest ; to 
delay, thou delayest 

III. When the Infinitive ends in y with a consonant im- 
mediately before it, the past time of the Indicative and the 
passive participle are formed by using an i instead of the y ; 
as, to reply, he replied ; to deny, it was denied. But if the y 
be preceded by a vowel, ed is added to the y in the usual 
manner : as, to delay, he delayed. 

IV. The active participle, which always ends in ing, is 
in general formed by simply adding the ing to the Infini- 
tive ; as, to work, working ; to talk, talking. But if the In- 
finitive end in a single e, the e is dropped : as, to move, mov- 
ing. The Verb to be is an exception to this ; but then that 
is an irregular Verb. It is when the Infinitive ends in a 
single e, mind ; for if the e be double, the general rule is 
followed ; as, to free, freeing. When the Infinitive ends in 
ie, those letters are changed into y in the forming of the 
active participle ; as, to lie, lying. 

V. When the Infinitive ends in a single consonant, which 
[that] has a single vowel imfnediately before it, the final con- 
sonant is doubled, not only in forming the active participle, 
but also in forming the past time of the Indicative, and the 
passive participle ; as, to rap, rapping ; I rapped, it was 
rapped. But, observe well, this rule holds good only as to 
words of one syllable ; for if the Infinitive of the Verb have 
more than one syllable, the consonant is not doubled unless 
the accent be on the last syllable ; and the accent means the 
main force or weight, or sound of the voice in pronouncing 
the word. For instance, in the word to open, the accent is 
on the first syllable ; and therefore we write, opening, opened. 
But when we come to the Verb to refer, where we find the 
accent on the last syllable, we write, referring, referred. 



VIII.] 



OF VERBS. 



<>l 



106. These irregularities, though very necessary to be 
attended to, do not prevent us from considering the Verbs 
which [that] are subject to them as regular Verbs. The 
mark of a regular Verb is that its past time and passive par- 
ticiple end in ed : every Verb which [that] does not answer 
to this mark is irregular. 

107. There are many of these irregular Verbs, of which 
I shall here insert a complete list. All the irregularities 
(except the little irregularities just mentioned) which [that] 
it is possible to find in an English Verb (the auxiliary Verbs 
excepted) are in the past time and the passive participle 
only. Therefore, it will be sufficient to give a list, show- 
ing, in those two instances, what are the irregularities of 
each Verb ; and, in order to render this list convenient, and 
to shorten the work of referring to it, I shall make it alpha- 
betical. With the past time of the several Verbs I shall use 
the first person singular of the pronoun, in order to make 
my examples as clear as possible. 



List of Irregular Verbs. 



INFINITIVE. 


PAST TIME. 


PARTICIPLES. 


to abide, 


I abode, 


abode. 


to be, 


I was, 


been. 


to bear, 


I bore, 


borne. 


to beat, 


I beat, 


beaten. 


to become, 


I became, 


become. 


to befall, 


it befell, 


befell. 


to beget, 


I begot, 


begotten. 


to begin, 


I began, 


begun. 


to behold, 


I beheld, 


beheld. 


to bend, 


I bended [or bent], 


bent. 


to beseech, 


I besought, 


besought. 


to bid, 


I bade, 


bidden. 



6 4 



ETYMOLOGY 



[letter 



INFINITIVE. 

to bind, 
to bite, 
to bleed, 
to break, 
to breed, 
to bring, 
to buy, 
to catch, 
to choose, 
to cleave, 
to come, 
to cost, 
to cut, 
to die, 
to do, 
to drink, 
to drive, 
to eat, 
to fall, 
to feed, 
to feel, 
to fight, 
to find, 
to flee, 
to fling, 
to fly, 
to forbear, 
to forbid, 
to forget, 
to forgive, 
to forsake, 
to get, 



PAST TIME. 

I bound, 
I bit, 
I bled, 
I broke, 
I bred, 
I brought, 
I bought, 
I caught, 
I chose, 
I clove, 
I came, 
I cost, 
I ait, 
I died, 
I did, 
I drank, 
I drove, 
I ate, 
I fell, 
I fed, 
I felt, 
I fought, 
I found, 
I fled, 
I flung, 
I flew, 
I forbore, 
I forbade, 
I forgot, 
I forgave, 
I forsook, 
I got, 



PARTICIPLES. 

bound. 

bitten. 

bled. 

broken. 

bred. 

brought. 

bought. 

caught. 

chosen. 

cloven. 

come. 

cost. 

cut. 

died. 

done. 

drunk. 

driven. 

eaten. 

fallen. 

fed. 

felt. 

fought. 

found. 

fled. 

flung. 

flown. 

forborne. 

forbidden. 

forgotten. 

forgiven. 

forsaken. 

gotten [or got]. 



VIII.] 


OF VERBS. 


65 


INFINITIVE. 


PAST TIME. 


PARTICIPLES. 


to give, 


I gave, 


given. 


to go, 


I went, 


gone. 


to grind, 


I ground, 


ground. 


to have, 


I had, 


had. 


to hear, 


I heard, 


heard. 


to hide, 


I hid, 


hidden. 


to hit, 


I hit, 


hit. 


to hold, 


I held, 


held. 


to hurt, 


I hurt, 


hurt. 


to keep, 


I kept, 


kept. 


to know, 


I knew, 


known. 


to lay, 


I laid, 


laid. 


to lead, 


lied, 


led. 


to leave, 


I left, 


left. 


to lend, 


I lent, 


lent. 


to let, 


I let, 


let. 


to lie, 


Hay, 


lain. 


to lose, 


I lost, 


lost. 


to make, 


I made, 


made. 


to meet, 


I met, 


met. 


to overcome, 


I overcame, 


overcome. 


to overdo, 


I overdid, 


overdone. 


to pass, 


I passed, 


past [or passed], 


to pay, 


I paid, 


paid. 


to put, 


I put, 


put. 


to read, 


I read, 


read. 


to rend, 


I rent, 


rent. 


to ride, 


I rode, 


ridden. 


to ring, 


I rang, 


rung. 


to rise, 


I rose, 


risen. 


to run, 


I ran, 


run. 


to say, 
5 


I said, 


said. 



66 



ETYMOLOGY 



[letter 



INFINITIVE. 

to see, 
to seek, 
to sell, 
to send, 
to set, 
to shake, 
to shear, 
to shed, 
to show, 
to shrink, 
to shoe, 
to shoot, 
to shut, 
to sing, 
to sink, 
to sit, 
to slay, 
to sleep, 
to slide, 
to slit, 
to smite, 
to speak, 
to speed, 
to spend, 
to spin, 
to spit, 
to spread, 
to stand, 
to steal, 
to stick, 
to stink, 
to strike, 



PAST TIME. 


PARTICIPLES. 


I saw, 


seen. 


I sought, 


sought. 


I sold, 


sold. 


I sent, 


sent. 


I set, 


set. 


I shook, 


shaken. 


I sheared, 


shorn [or sheared]. 


I shed, 


shed. 


I showed, 


shown. 


I shrank, 


shrunk. 


I shod, 


shod. 


I shot, 


shotten [shot]. 


I shut, 


shut. 


I sang, 


sung. 


I sank, 


sunk. 


I sat, 


sitten [sat]. 


I slew, 


slain. 


I slept, 


slept. 


I slid, 


slidden [slid]. 


I slit, 


slit. 


I smote, 


smitten. 


I spoke, 


spoken. 


I sped, 


sped. 


I spent, 


spent. 


I span [or spun], 


spun. 


I spat [or spit], 


spitten [spit]. 


I spread, 


spread. 


I stood, 


stood. 


I stole, 


stolen. 


I stuck, 


stuck. 


I stunk, 


stunk. 


I struck, 


stricken [or struck] 



VIII.] 



OF VERBS. 



67 



INFINITIVE. PAST TIME. 

to swear, I swore, 

to take, I took, 

to teach, I taught, 

to tear, I tore, 

to tell, I told, 

to think, I thought, 

to tread, I trod, 

to understand, I understood, 
to wear, I wore, 

to win, I won, 

to wind, I wound, 

to write, I wrote, 

108. It is usual with Grammarians to insert several 
Verbs in their List of Irregulars which [that] I have not 
inserted here. But I have, in the above list, placed every 
Verb in our language which [that] is really irregular. 
However, I will here subjoin a list of those Verbs which 
[that] are, by some Grammarians, reckoned irregular ; and 
then I will show you, not only that they are not irregular, 
strictly speaking, but that you ought by all means to use 
them in a regular form. 

List of Verbs which [that], by some Persons, are 
erroneously deemed irregulars. 



PARTICIPLES. 

sworn. 

taken. 

taught. 

torn. 

told. 

thought. 

trodden [or trod]. 

understood. 

worn. 

won. 

wound. 

written. 



INFINITIVE. 

to awake, 
to bereave, 
to blow, 
to build, 
to burn, 
to burst, 
to cast, 



PAST TIME. 



PARTICIPLES. 



I awoke [or awaked], awaked [or awoke]. 

I bereft [or bereaved], bereft [or bereaved]. 

I blew, blown. 

I built [or builded], built [or builded]. 

I burnt [or burned], burnt [or burned]. 

I burst, burst. 

I cast, cast. 



68 



ETYMOLOGY 



[letter 



INFINITIVE. 

to chide, 
to cling, 
to creep, 
to crow, 
to curse, 
to dare, 
to deal, 
to dig, 
to dip, 
to draw, 
to dream, 
to dwell, 
to freeze, 
to geld, 
to gild, 
to gird, 
to grow, 
to hang, 
to help, 
to hew, 
to kneel, 
to knit, 
to lade, 
to leap, 
to light, 
to load, 

to mean, 
to mow, 
to overflow, 
to saw, 
to shave, 



PAST TIME. 

I chid, 

I clung, 

I crept, 

I crew, 

I curst [or cursed], 

I dared, 

I dealt, 

I dug [or digged], 

I dipt [or dipped], 

I drew, 

I dreamt [or dreamed] , 

I dwelt, 

I froze, 

I gelt, 

I gilt [or gilded], 

I girt, 

I grew, 

I hung, 

I helpt [or helped], 

I hewed, 

I knelt, 

I knit [or knitted], 

I laded, 

I leaped, 

I lit [or lighted], 

I loaded, 

I meant, 
I mowed, 
I overflowed, 
I sawed, 
I shaved, 



PARTICIPLES. 

chidden, 
clung, 
crept, 
crowed. 

curst [or cursed], 
dared, 
dealt. 

dug [or digged], 
dipt [or dipped], 
drawn. 

dreamt [or dreamed], 
dwelt, 
frozen, 
gelt. 

gilt [or gilded], 
girt, 
grown, 
hung. 

helpt [or helped], 
hewn, 
knelt. 

knit [or knitted], 
laden [or laded], 
leapt [or leaped], 
light [?], [lighted], 
loaden or laden [bet- 
ter, loaded], 
meant, 
mown. 

overflown [?]. 
sawn [or sawed], 
shaven [or shaved]. 



VIII.] 



OF VERBS. 



69 



INFINITIVE. 

to shine, 
to shred, 
to sling, 
to slink, 
to slip, 
to smell, 
to snow, 
to sow, 
to spell, 
to spill, 
to split, 
to spring, 
to stamp, 
to sting, 
to strew, 
to stride, 
to string, 
to strip, 
to strive, 
to strow, 
to sweep, 
to swell, 
. to swim, 
to swing, 
to thrive, 
to throw, 
to thrust, 
to wax, 
to weave, 
to weep, 
to whip, 



PAST TIME. 



I shone, 

I shred, 

I slung, 

I slunk, 

I slipt [or slipped], 

I smelt [or smelled], 

it snowed, 

I sowed, 

I spelt [or spelled], 

I spilt [or spilled], 

I split, 

I sprang, 

I stampt [or stamped], 

I stung or stang, 

I strewed, 

I strode, 

I strung, 

I stript [or stripped], 

I strove, 

I strowed, 

I swept, 

I swelled, 

I swam, 

I swung or swang, 

I throve, 

I threw, 

I thrust, 

I waxed, 

I wove, 

I wept, 

Iwhipt [or whipped], 



PARTICIPLES. 

shone. 

shred. 

slung. 

slunk. 

slipt [or slipped]. 

smelt [or smelled]. 

snown [snowed], 

sown [or sowed]. 

spelt [or spelled]. 

spilt [or spilled]. 

split. 

sprung. 

stampt [or stamped]. 

stung. 

strewn. 

stridden. 

strung. 

stript [or stripped], 

striven. 

strown. 

swept. 

swollen [or swelled], 

swum. 

swung. 

thriven. 

thrown. 

thrust. 

waxen [waxed], 

woven. 

wept. 

whipt [or whipped]. 



70 ETYMOLOG Y [letter 

109. The greater part of these verbs have become ir- 
regular by the bad practice of abbreviating or shortening in 
writing. We are always given to cut our words short ; and, 
with very few exceptions, you find people writing lovd, 
mov y d, waWd ; instead of loved, moved, walked. They 
wish to make the pen correspond with the tongue ; but they 
ought not then to write the word the at full length, nor the 
word of, nor any other little word ; for scarcely ever are 
these words fully sounded in speaking. From lov'd, movd, 
waWd, it is very easy to slide into lovt, movt, walkt. And 
this has been the case with regard to curst, dealt, dwelt, 
leapt, helpt, and many others in the last inserted list. It is 
just as proper to $>?cy jumpt, as it is to say leapt ; and just as 
proper to say walkt as either ; and thus we might go on, till 
the orthography of the whole language were changed. 
When the love of contraction came to operate on such Verbs 
as to burst and to light, it found such a clump of consonants 
already at the end of the words that it could add none. 
It could not enable the organs even of English speech to 
pronounce bursfd, light 'd. It therefore made really short 
work of it, and, dropping the last syllable altogether, wrote 
burst and light in the past time and passive participle. But 
is it not more harmonious, as well as more correct, to say, 
"The bubble is almost bursted," than it is to say, "The 
bubble is almost burst?" And as to hang, is it not better 
to say hanged than hung? " I will be hanged if I do," is a 
very common phrase ; and is it not better than it would be 
to say, " I will be hung if I do " ? Many of these Verbs, 
by being very difficult to contract, have, as in the case of to 
hang, to swing, and the like, reduced the shorteners to the 
necessity of changing almost all the letters of the words : 
as, to dare, durst : but, is it not better to say I dared than 
I durst? This habit of contracting or shortening is a very 



viii.] OF VERBS. 71 

mischievous habit. It leads to the destruction of all pro- 
priety in the use of letters ; and instead of a saving of time, 
it produces, by the puzzling that it gives rise to, a great loss 
of time. Hoping that what I have here said will be a warn- 
ing to you against the cutting of words short, I have only to 
add, on the subject of irregular verbs, that those in the last 
list are to be used in the regular form, and that the only 
real irregulars are those of the first list. Nay, I have, after 
all, left some Verbs in the first list which [that] may be used 
in the regular form : as, past, which may be, in the partici- 
ple, passed, and with full as much propriety. 

110. AUXILIARY VERBS.— In the present Letter, 
paragraph 103, I open this part of my subject. The word 
let is the past time and the passive participle of the Verb to 
let. It is used as an auxiliary, however, in the present time ; 
and only in the imperative mode : as, Let me go ; let us go ; 
let him go. That is to say, Leave me to go, leave us to go, 
leave him to go. Perhaps the meaning, fully expressed, 
would be, Act in such a way that I may be left to go, or 
suffered to go. 

111. The auxiliary do, which, for the past time, becomes 
did, is part of the Verb to do, which in its past time is did, 
and in its passive participle done. In this sense, it is not an 
auxiliary but a principal Verb, and its meaning is equal to 
that of to execute, or to perform : as, I do my work, I execute 
my work, I perform my work. As an auxiliary or helper, 
it seems to denote the time of the principal Verb : as, I do 
walk ; I did walk ; and, we may say, I do execute my work, 
or, I do do my work. In this last example, the first do is an 
auxiliary, and the last do a principal Verb. However, as I 
said before, do and did, used as auxiliaries, do a great deal 
more than merely express time. In fact, they are not often 
used for that purpose only. They are used for the purpose 



72 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

of affirming or denying in a manner peculiarly strong: as, 
I do work, means, that I work, notwithstanding all that 
may be, or may have been said, or thought, to the contrary ; 
or it means, that I work now, and have not done it at some 
other stated or supposed time. It is the same, with the ex- 
ception of time, as to the use of did. These are among 
those little words of vast import, the proper force and use 
of which foreigners scarcely ever learn, and which we learn 
from our very infancy. 

112. The Verbs to have and to be are the two great 
auxiliaries. These words demand an extraordinary portion 
of your attention. They are piincipal Verbs as well as aux- 
iliaries. The Verb to have, as a principal Verb, signifies 
possession : as, / have a pen, that is to say, I possess a pen. 
Then, this is a word of very great use indeed in its capacity 
of principal Verb ; for we say, / have a headache, I have a 
hatred of such a thing, / have a mind to go ; and hundreds 
of similar phrases. I possess a headache has the same mean- 
ing ; but the other is more agreeable to the natural turn of 
our language. As auxiliary this Verb is absolutely neces- 
sary in forming what are called the compound times of other 
Verbs, and those times are called compound because they 
are formed of two or more Verbs. Suppose the subject to 
be of my working, and that I want to tell you that my work 
is ended, that I have closed my work, I can not, in a short 
manner, tell you this without the help of the Verb to have. 
To say, / work, or / worked, or / will work ; these will not 
answer my purpose. No : I must call in the help of the 
Verb to have, and tell you I have worked. So, in the case 
of the past time, I must say, I had worked ; in the future, 
I shall have worked ; in the subjunctive mode, I must say, 
I may, might, could, or should have worked. If you reflect 
a little, you will find a clear reason for employing the Verb 



viil] OF VERBS. 73 

to have in this way ; for when I say, " I have worked," my 
words amount to this : that the act of zvorking is now in my 
possession. It is completed. It is a thing /own, and there- 
fore I say, / have it. 

113. The Verb to be signifies existence, when used as a 
principal Verb. " To be ill, to be well, to be rich, to be poor," 
mean to exist in illness, in health, in riches, in poverty. 
This Verb, in its compound times, requires the help of the 
Verb to have : as, I have been, I had been, I shall have 
been, and so on. As auxiliary, this Verb is used with the 
participles of other Verbs : as, to be working, he is working, 
it is worked. Now you will perceive, if you reflect, that 
these phrases mean as follows : existing in work, he exists 
in work, it exists in a worked state. Both these Verbs are 
sometimes used, at one and the same time, as auxiliaries to 
other principal Verbs : as, I have been writing ; I have 
been imprisoned ; and so on ; and, upon patient attention 
to what has already been said, you will find that they re- 
tain upon all occasions their full meaning, of possession in 
the one case, and of existence in the other. 

114. Now, my dear James, if I have succeeded in mak- 
ing clear to you the principle out of which the use of these 
words, as auxiliaries, has arisen, I have accomplished a great 
deal ; for, if well grounded in that principle, all the subse- 
quent difficulties will speedily vanish before you. 

115. I now proceed to close this long and important 
Letter, by presenting to you the conjugation of these two 
Verbs, both of which are irregular, and every irregularity is 
worthy of your strict attention. 



74 



ETYMOLOGY 



[letter 



INFINITIVE MODE. 
To Have. 



INDICATIVE 



Singular. 

_ C ist Person. I have, 

Present \ ,. _ 

_. < 2d Person. 

I lme. j 



Thou hast, [hath, 
He, she, or it has, or 



Past 
Time. 

Future 
Time. 



( 3d Person. 

— I had, 

— Thou hadst, 

— He, she, or it had, 

— I shall, or will have, 

— Thou shalt, or wilt have, 

— He, she, or it shall, or will 

have, 



MODE. 

Plural. 

We have. 

You have. 

They have. 

We had. 

You had. 

They had. 
We shall, or will have. 
You shall, or will have. 
They shall, or will have. 



Present 
Time. 



SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 
If I have, or may, might, could, or should have. 

If thou have, or may have. 

If he, she, or it have, or may have. 

If we have, or may have. 

If you have, or may have. 

If they have, or may have. 



IMPERATIVE 

Let me have, 

Have thou, 

Let him, her, or it have, 



MODE. 

Let us have. 
Have you. 
Let them have. 



PARTICIPLES. 



Active. - 
Passive.- 



•Having. 
-Had. 



116. Though I have inserted hath in the third person 
singular of the present of the indicative, it is hardly ever 
used. It is out of date, and ought to be wholly laid aside. 



VIII.] 



OF VERBS. 



75 



117. The Verb to be is still more irregular, but a little 
attention to its irregularities will prevent all errors in the 

use of it. 

INFINITIVE MODE. 

To Be. 
INDICATIVE MODE. 

Singular . 

C ist Person. I am, 

_. < 2d Person. Thou art, 
Time, j , „ TT , . . 

( 3d Person. He, she, or it is, 

- 1 was, 

- Thou wast, 

- He, she, or it was, 
- 1 shall, or will be, 

I — Thou shalt, or wilt be, 

■ He, she, or it shall, or will be, 



Past 
Time. 

Future 
Time. 



Plural. 

We are. 

You are. 

They are. 

We were. 

You were. 

They were. 
We shall, or will be. 
You shall, or will be. 
They shall, or will be. 



SUBJUNCTIVE MODE. 
If I be, or may, might, could, would, or should be. 
If thou be, or may 



Present J If he, she, or it be, or may 

Time. ' If we be, or may 

I If you be, or may . 



(^ If they be, or may 



Past Time. 



If I were. 

If thou wert. 

If he, she, or it were. 

If we were. 

If you were. 

If they were. 



IMPERATIVE 
Let me be, 
Be thou, 
Let him, her, or it be, 



MODE. 

Let us be. 
Be you. 
Let them be. 



be. 
.be. 
be. 
be. 
be. 



76 ETYMOLOGY [letter 



PARTICIPLES. 
Present. — Being. 
Past. — Been. 

118. In the Subjunctive Mode I have made use of the 
conjunction if throughout all the conjugations of Verbs. 
But a Verb may be in that mode without an if before it. 
[And a verb may have an if before it, and yet be properly 
in the Indicative Mode.] The if is only one of the marks 
of that mode. A Verb is always in that mode when the 
action or state of being expressed by the Verb is expressed 
conditionally, or when the action or state of being is, in 
some way or other, dependent on some other action or state 
of being. But of this I shall speak more at large when I 
come to the Syntax of Verbs. 

119. There remain a few words to be said about the 
signs, the defective Verbs, and the impersonal Verbs. The 
signs, may, might, can, could, will, would, shall, should, and 
must, have all, originally, been Verbs, though they are now 
become defective in almost all their parts, and serve only 
as signs to other Verbs. Will, indeed, is part of a regular 
Verb : as, to will, they willed, they are willing, they will be 
willing. The word would is certainly the past time and 
passive participle of the same Verb ; and, indeed, it is used 
as a principal Verb now, in certain cases : as, " I would he 
were rich." That is to say, I desire, or am willing, or, it is 
my will, that he should be rich. But deep inquiries re- 
garding the origin of these words are more curious than 
useful. A mere idea of the nature of their origin is enough. 
The Verb ought is a Verb defective, in most of its parts. 
It certainly, however, is no other than a part of the Verb 
to owe, and is become ought by corruption. For instance : 
"I ought to write to you," means that "I owe the per- 



viii.] OF VERBS. 77 

formance of the act of writing to you." Ought is made 
use of only in the present time, and for that reason a great 
deal has been lost to our language by this corruption. As 
to the Verbs which [that] some grammarians have called 
impersonal, there are, in fact, no such things in the English 
language. By impersonal Verb is meant a Verb that has 
no nourt or pronoun for its nominative case ; no person or 
thing that is the actor, or receiver of an action, or that is in 
being. Thus : " it rains" is by some called an impersonal 
Verb ; but the pronoun it represents the person. Look 
again at Letter VI, and at paragraphs 60 and 61. You will 
there find what it is that this it, in such cases, represents. 

[According to some other grammarians, the impersonal 
verbs are verbs defective in the persons, being used only in 
the third person singular.] 

120. Thus I have concluded my Letter on the Etymol- 
ogy of Verbs, which is by far the most important part of 
the subject. Great as have been my endeavors to make 
the matter clear to you, I am aware, that, after the first 
reading of this Letter, your mind will be greatly confused. 
You will have had a glimpse at everything in the Letter, 
but will have seen nothing clearly. But, my dear James, 
lay the book aside for a day or two ; then read the whole 
Letter again and again. Read it early, while your mind 
is clear, and while sluggards are snoring. Write it down. 
Lay it aside for another day or two. Copy your own writ- 
ing. Thi7ik as you proceed ; and, at the end of your copy- 
ing* y ou will understand clearly all the contents of the Let- 
ter. Do not attempt to study the Letter piece by piece. 
In your readings, as well as in your copyings, go clean 
throughout. If you follow these instructions, the remain- 
ing part of your task will be very easy and pleasant. 



78 ETYMOLOGY [letter 



LETTER IX. 

ETYMOLOGY OF ADVERBS. 

121. In Letter III, and in paragraphs 27 and 28, you 
will find a description of this Part of Speech. Read again 
those two paragraphs, in order to refresh your memory. 
There is not much to be said about Adverbs under the 
head of Etymology. They are words liable to few varia- 
tions. Adverbs are very numerous, and may be divided 
into five principal classes : that is to say, Adverbs of lime, 
of place, of order, of quality, and of manner. This last 
class, which is the most numerous, is composed of those 
which [that] are derived immediately from adjectives, and 
which [that] end in ly : as, especially, particularly, thank- 
fully. 

122. These Adverbs, ending in ly, are, for the most 
part, formed by simply adding ly to the adjective: as, espe- 
cial becomes especially ; but, if the adjective end in y, that 
y is changed into i in forming the Adverb : as, happy, hap- 
pily ; steady, steadily. If the adjective end in le, the e is 
dropped in forming the Adverb : as, possible, possibly. 

123. Some few Adverbs have degrees of comparison : 
as, often, oftener, oftenest ; and those which [that] are de- 
rived from irregular adjectives, are irregular in forming 
their degrees of comparison : as, well, better, best. 

124. Some Adverbs are simple or single ; others com- 
pound. The former consist of one word, the latter of two 
or more words: as, happily; at present ; now-a-days ; 
which last means at the days that now are. Another Ad- 
verb of this description is, by-and-by ; which is used to 
express, in a short time ; and literally it means near and 
near ; because by itself, as an Adverb, means, near, close t 



x.] OF PREPOSITIONS. 79 

beside. When Adverbs are compound, the words compos- 
ing them ought to [should] be connected by a hyphen, or 
hyphens, as in the above examples of now-a-days and by- 
and-by. 

[Ought — Should. These two words, though they both 
imply obligation, should not be used indiscriminately. 
Ought is the stronger term ; what we ought to do, we are 
morally bound to do. We ought to be truthful and honest.] 



LETTER X. 

ETYMOLOGY OF PREPOSITIONS. 

125. Letter III, paragraphs 29 and 30, has taught you 
of what description of words Prepositions are. The chief 
use of them is to express the different relations or connec- 
tions, which [that] nouns have with each other [one another], 
or, in which nouns stand with regard to each other [one 
another] : as, John gives money to Peter ; Peter receives 
money from John. It is useless to attempt to go into curi- 
ous inquiries as to the origin of Prepositions. They never 
change their endings ; they are always written in the same 
manner. Their use is the main thing to be considered ; 
and that will become very clear to you, when you come to 
the Syntax. 

126. There are two abbreviations or shortenings, of 
Prepositions, which I will notice here, because they are 
in constant use, and may excite doubts in your mind. 
These are a and d : as, I am a hunting ; he is a coming ; 
it is one tf'clock. The a thus added, is at, without doubt : 
as, I am at hunting ; he is at coming. Generally this is a 
vulgar and redundant manner of speaking ; but it is in use. 



80 ETYMOLOGY [letter 

In mercantile accounts you will frequently see this a made 
use of in a very odd sort of way : as, " Six bales marked 
I a 6." The merchant means, " Six bales marked from I 
to 6." But this I take to be a relic of the Norman French, 
which was once the law and mercantile language of Eng- 
land ; for, in French, a, with an accent, means to or at. I 
wonder that merchants, who are generally men of sound 
sense, do not discontinue the use of this mark of affectation. 
And, I beg you, my dear James, to bear in mind, that the 
only use of words is to cause our meaning to be clearly un- 
derstood ; and that the best words are those which [that] 
are familiar to the ears of the greatest number of persons. 
The o\ with the mark of elision, means, of, or of the, or on, 
or on the ; as, two o'clock, is the same as to say two of the 
clock, or two according to the clock, or two on the clock. 

127. As to the Prepositions which [that] are joined to 
verbs or other words ; as, to outlive, to undervalue, to be 
overdone, it would be to waste our time to spend it in any 
statements about them ; for, these are other words than to 
live, to value, to be done. If we were to go, in this way, 
into the subject of the composition of words, where should 
we stop ? Thankful, thankless, without, within ; these are 
all compound words, but, of what use to us to enter on, and 
[to] spend our time in, inquiries of mere curiosity? It is 
for monks and for Fellows of English Colleges, who live by 
the sweat of other people's brows, to spend their time in 
this manner, and to call the result of their studies learning ; 
for you, who will have to earn what you eat and what you 
drink and what you wear, it is to avoid everything that tends 
not to real utility. 



xi.] OF CONJUNCTIONS, 8l 

LETTER XI. 

ETYMOLOGY OF CONJUNCTIONS. 

128. In Letter III, paragraph 31, you have had a de- 
scription of this sort of words, and also some account of the 
uses of them. Some of them are called copulative Conjunc- 
tions, and others disjunctive. They all serve to join together 
words, or parts of sentences ; but the former express an [a] 
union in the actions, or states of being, expressed by the 
verb ; as, you and I talk. The latter a disunion ; as, you 
talk, but I act. The words of this Part of Speech never 
vary in their endings. They are always spelled in one and 
the same way. In themselves they present no difficulty ; 
but, as you will see by-and-by, to use them properly, with 
other words, in the forming of sentences, demands a due 
portion of your attention and care. 



LETTER XIL 

CAUTIONARY REMARKS. 



My dear James: 

129. Before we enter on Syntax, let me give you a 
caution or two with regard to the contents of the foregoing 
LETTERS. 

130. There are some words which [that], under differ- 
ent circumstances, belong to more than one Part of Speech, 
as, indeed, you have seen in the Participles. But this is by 
no means confined to that particular description of words. 
I act. Here act is a verb ; but the act performed by me 
shows the very same word in the capacity of a noun. The 
message was sent by him ; he stood by at the time. In the 



82 CAUTIONARY REMARKS. [letter 

first of these examples by is a preposition ; in the last an 
adverb. Mind, therefore, that it is the sense in which the 
word is used, and not the letters of which it is composed, that 
determines what is the Part of Speech to which it belongs. 

131. Never attempt to get by rote any part of your in- 
structions. Whoever falls into that practice soon begins to 
esteem the powers of memory more than those of reason ; 
and the former are despicable indeed when compared with 
the latter. When the fond parents of an eighth wonder of 
the world call him forth into the middle of the parlor to 
repeat to their visitors some speech of a play, how angry 
would they be if any one were to tell them that their son's 
endowments equaled those of a parrot or a bullfinch ! Yet 
a German bird-teacher would make either of these more 
perfect in these [this ?] species of oratory. It is this mode 
of teaching, which [that] is practiced in the great schools, 
that assists very much in making dunces of Lords and 
Country Squires. They "get their lessons " ; that is to say, 
they repeat the words of it : but, as to its sense and mean- 
ing, they seldom have any understanding. This operation 
is sometimes, for what reason I know not, called getting a 
thing by heart. It must, I should think, mean by hear't ; 
that is to say, by hear it. That a person may get and re- 
tain and repeat a lesson in this way, without any effort of 
the mind, is very clear from the fact, of which we have 
daily proof, that people sing the words and the tune of a 
song with perfect correctness, at the very time that they are 
most seriously thinking and debating in their minds about 
matters of great importance to them. 

132. I have cautioned you before against studying the 
foregoing instructions piecemeal ; that is to say, a little bit 
at a time. Read a letter all through at once ; and, now 
that you have come to the end of my instructions on Ety- 



xiii.] SYNTAX GENERALLY CONSIDERED. 83 

mology, read all the Letters through at once : do this re- 
peatedly ; taking care to proceed slowly and carefully ; 
and, at the end of a few days, all the matters treated of 
will form a connected whole in your mind. 

133. Before you proceed to the Syntax, try yourself a 
little, thus : copy a short sentence from any book. Then 
write down the words, one by one, and write against each 
what Part of Speech you think it belongs to. Then look 
for each word in the dictionary, where you will find the 
several Parts of Speech denoted by little letters after the 
word : s. is for substantive, or noun ; pro. for pronoun ; a. 
for article ; v. a. for verb active ; v. n. for verb neuter ; 
adj. for adjective ; adv. for adverb ; pre. for preposition ; 
con. for conjunction ; int. for interjection. It will give you 
great pleasure and encouragement when you find that you 
are right. If you be [are] sometimes wrong, this will only 
urge you to renewed exertion. You will be proud to see 
that, without any one at your elbow, you have really ac- 
quired something which [that] you can never lose. You 
will begin, and with reason, to think yourself learned ; your 
sight, though the objects will still appear a good deal con- 
fused, will dart into every part of the science ; and you will 
pant to complete what you will be convinced you have suc- 
cessfully begun. 

LETTER XIII. 
syntax generally considered. 

My dear James : 

134. In Letter II, paragraph 9, I shortly [briefly] ex- 
plained to you the meaning of the word Syntax, as that 
word is used in the teaching of Grammar. Read that 
paragraph again. 



84 SYNTAX. [letter 

135. We are, then, now entering upon this branch of 
your study ; and it is my object to teach you how to give 
all the words you make use of their proper situation [posi- 
tion] when you come to put them into sentences. Because, 
though every word that you make use of may be correctly 
spelled ; that is to say, may have all the letters in it that it 
ought to have, and no more than it ought to have ; and 
though all the words may, at the same time, be the fit 
words to use in order to express what you wish to express ; 
yet, for want of a due observance of the principles and 
rules of Syntax, your sentences may be incorrect, and, in 
some cases, they may not express what you wish them to 
express. 

135. I shall, however, carry my instructions a little 
further than the construction of independent sentences. I 
shall make some remarks upon the manner of putting sen- 
tences together ; and on the things necessary to be under- 
stood, in order to enable a person to write a series of sen- 
tences. These remarks will show you the use of figurative 
language, and will, I hope, teach you how to avoid the 
very common error of making your writing confused and 
unintelligible. 



LETTER XIV. 

SYNTAX. 

The Points and Marks made use of in Writing. 
My dear James: 

137. There are, as I informed you in paragraph 9, Let- 
ter II, Points made use of in the making, or writing, of 
sentences ; and, therefore, we must first notice these ; be- 
cause, as you will soon see, the sense, or meaning, of the 



xiv.] SYNTAX. 85 

words is very much dependent upon the points which [that] 
are used along with the words. For instance : " You will 
be rich if you be [are] industrious, in a few years " Then 
again : " You will be rich, if you be [are] industrious in a 
few years." Here, though in both sentences the words and 
also the order of the words are precisely the same, the 
meaning of one of the sentences is very different from that 
of the other. The first sentence means that you will, in a 
few years' time, be rich, if you be [are] industrious now. 
The second means that you will be rich, some time or other, 
if you be [are] industrious in a few years from this time. 
And all this great difference in meaning is, as you must 
see, produced solely by the difference in the situation of 
the comma. Put another comma after the last word indus- 
trious, and the meaning becomes dubious. A memorable 
proof of the great importance of attending to Points was 
given to the English nation in the year 1S17. A committee 
of the House of Lords made a report to the House, re- 
specting certain political clubs. A secretary of one of those 
clubs presented a petition to the House, in which he de- 
clared positively, and offered to prove at the bar, that a 
part of the report was totally false. At first their Lord- 
ships blustered : their high blood seemed to boil : but, at 
last, the Chairman of the Committee apologized for the 
report by saying that there ought to have been a full-point 
where there was only a comma ! and that it was this which 
[that] made that false which [that] would otherwise have 
been, and which [that] was intended to be, true ! 

138. These Points being, then, things of so much con- 
sequence in the forming of sentences, it is necessary that I 
explain to you the use of them, before I proceed any far- 
ther. There are four of them : the Full-point, or Period ; 
the Colon; the Semicolon; the Comma. 



S6 SYNTAX. [letter 

139. The Full-point is a single dot, thus [.], and it is 
used at the end of every complete sentence. That is to 
say, at the end of eveiy collection of words which [that] 
make a full and complete meaning, and is not necessarily 
connected with other collections of words. But a sentence 
may consist of several members or divisions, and then it is 
called a compound sentence. When it has no division, it is 
called a simple sentence. Thus : " The people suffer great 
misery." This is a simple sentence; but, "The people 
suffer great misery, and daily perish for want," is a com- 
pound sentence ; that is to say, it is compounded, or made 
up, of two simple sentences. 

140. The Colon, which is written thus [:], is next to 
the full-point in requiring a complete sense in the words. 
It is, indeed, often used when the sense is complete, but 
when there is something still behind, which [that] tends to 
make the sense fuller or clearer. 

141. The Semicolon is written thus [;], and it is used 
to set off, or divide, simple sentences, in cases when the 
comma is not quite enough to keep the meaning of the sim- 
ple sentences sufficiently distinct. 

142. The Comma is written thus [,], and is used to 
mark the shortest pauses in reading, and the smallest di- 
visions in writing. It has, by some grammarians, been 
given as a rule to use a comma to set off every part of 
a compound sentence, which part has in it a verb not 
in the infinitive mode ; and, certainly, this is, in general, 
proper. But it is not always proper ; and, besides, com- 
mas are used, in numerous cases, to set off parts which 
[that] have no verbs in them ; and even to set off single 
words which [that] are not verbs : and of this the very sen- 
tence which [that] I am now writing gives you ample 
proof. The comma marks the shortest pause that we make 



xiv.] SYNTAX. 87 

in speaking ; and it is evident that, in many cases, its use 
must depend upon taste. It is sometimes used to give em- 
phasis ', or weighty to the word after which it is put. Ob- 
serve, now, the following two sentences : " I was very well 
and cheerful last week ; but, am rather feeble and low- 
spirited now." " I am very willing to yield to your kind 
requests ; but, I will set your harsh commands at defiance." 
Commas are made use of when phrases, that is to say, por- 
tions of words, are throwed [thrown] into a sentence, and 
which [that] are not absolutely necessary to assist in its 
grammatical construction. For instance : " There were, 
in the year 1817, petitions from a million and a half of men, 
who [that], as they distinctly alleged, were suffering the 
greatest possible hardships." The two phrases, in italics, 
may be left out in the reading, and still the sentence will 
have its full grammatical construction. 

143. Let us now take a compound sentence or two con- 
taining all the four points. " In a land of liberty it is ex- 
tremely dangerous to make a distinct order of the profession 
of arms. In absolute monarchies this is necessary for the 
safety of the prince, and arises from the main principle of 
their constitution, which is that of governing by fear ; but 
in free states the profession of a soldier, taken singly and 
merely as a profession, is justly an object of jealousy. In 
these no man should take up arms, but with a view to de- 
fend his country and its laws : he puts off the citizen when 
he enters the camp : but it is because he is a citizen, and 
would continue so, that he makes himself for a while a sol- 
dier. The laws therefore and constitution of these king- 
doms know no such state as that of a perpetual standing 
soldier, bred up to no other profession than that of war ; 
and it was not till the reign of Henry VII that the kings of 
England had so much as a guard about their persons." 



88 SYNTAX. [letter 

This passage is taken from Blackstone's Commentaries, 
Book I, Chap. 13. Here are four complete sentences. 
The first is a simple sentence. The other three are com- 
pound sentences. Each of these latter has its members, all 
very judiciously set off by points. The word so, in the 
third sentence, ought to be suck, or the words a citizen 
ought to be repeated. But, with this trifling exception, 
these are very beautiful sentences. Nothing affected or 
confused in them : all is simple, clear, and harmonious. 

144. You will now see that it is quite impossible to give 
any precise rules for the use of these several points. Much 
must be left to taste ; something must depend upon the 
weight which [that] we may wish to give to particular 
words, or phrases ; and something on the seriousness, or 
the levity, of the subject on which we are writing. 

145. Besides these points, however, there are certain 
grammatical signs, or marks, which [that] are made use of 
in the writing of sentences : the mark of parenthesis, the 
mark of interrogation, the mark of exclamation, the apos- 
trophe, otherwise called the mark of elision, and the hyphen. 

146. The mark of Parenthesis consists of two curved 
strokes, drawed [drawn] across the line of writing, or of 
print. Its use is to inclose a phrase thro wed [thrown] in 
hastily to assist in elucidating our subject, or to add force 
to our assertions or arguments. But, observe, the paren- 
thesis ought to be very sparingly used. It is necessarily an 
interrupter: it breaks in upon the regular course of the 
mind : it tends to divert the attention from the main object 
of the sentence. I will give you, from Mr. Tull,* Chap. 

* Mr. Tull, the inventor of the drill and horse-hoeing husbandry, 
and the author of " New Horse-hoeing Husbandry," was born about 
1680, died 1740. An edition of the u New Horse-hoeing Husbandry " 
was brought out by Cobbett in 1822. " From this famous book," he 



xiv.] SYNTAX. 89 

XIII, an instance of the omission of the parenthesis, and 
also of the proper employment of it. " Palladius thought 
also, with others of the ancients, that Heaven was to be 
frightened with red cloth, with the feathers or the heart of 
an owl, and a multitude of such ridiculous scarecrows, from 
spoiling the fruits of the fields and gardens. The ancients 
having no rational principles, or theory of agriculture, placed 
their chief confidence in magical charms and enchantments, 
which he, who [that] has the patience or curiosity to read, 
may find, under the title aforementioned, in Cato, in Varro 
(and even Columella is as fulsome as any of them), all 
written in very fine language ; which is most of the erudi- 
tion that can be acquired as to field husbandry, from the 
Greek and Latin writers, whether in verse or prose." For 
want of the mark of parenthesis in the first of these sen- 
tences, we almost think, at the close of it, that the author 
is speaking of the crows, and not of Heaven, being fright- 
ened from spoiling the fruits of the fields and the gardens. 
But with regard to the use of the parenthesis, I shall speak, 
perhaps, more fully by-and-by : for the employment of it is 
a matter of some importance. 

147. The mark of Interrogation, which is written thus 
[?], is used when a question is asked : as, " Who has ??iy 
pen ? " " What man is that ? " In these and [in] numer- 
ous other cases, the mark is not necessary to our clearly 
comprehending the meaning of the writer. But this is not 
always the case. " What does he say ? Put the horse into 
the stable." Again: "What does he say? Put the horse 
into the stable ? " In speaki?ig, this great difference in the 
meaning, in this instance, would be fully expressed by the 
voice and manner of the speaker ; but, in writing, the mark 

says, " I learned all my principles relative to farming, gardening, and 
planting. It really, without a pun, goes to the root of the subject." 



90 SYNTAX. [letter 

of interrogation is, you see, absolutely necessary in order to 
accomplish the purpose. 

148. The mark of Exclamation, or Admiration, is writ- 
ten thus [!], and, as its name denotes, is used to distinguish 
words or sentences that are exclamatory, from such as are 
not : " What do you say ! What do you say ? " The differ- 
ence in the sense is very obvious here. Again : " He is 
going away to-night ! He is going away to-night!' The 
last simply states the fact ; but the first, besides stating the 
fact, expresses surprise at it. 

149. The Apostrophe, or mark of Elision, is a comma 
placed above the line, thus [']. Elision means a shiking 
out ; and this mark is used for that purpose: as, don't for 
do not ; tho> for though ; lov'd for loved. I have mentioned 
this mark, because it is used properly enough in poetry ; 
but, I beg you never to use it in prose in one single in- 
stance during your whole life. It ought to be called the 
mark not of elision, but of laziness and vulgarity. It is 
necessary as the mark of the possessive case of nouns, as 
you have seen in Letter V, paragraph 47. That is its use, 
and any other employment of it is an abuse. 

150. The Hyphen or Conjoiner is a little line drawed 
[drawn] to connect words, or parts of words: as in sea-fish, 
water-rat. For here are two distinct words, though they, 
in these instances, make but one. Sometimes the hyphen 
is used to connect many words together : " The never-to- 
be-forgotten cruelty of the Borough-tyrants." When, in 
writing, or in printing, a line ends with part of a word, a 
hyphen is placed after that part, in order to show that 
that part is to be joined, in the reading, with that which 
[that] begins the next line. 

151. These are all the grammatical marks; but, there 
are others, used in writing for the purpose of saving time 



xiv.] SYNTAX. 91 

and words. The mark of quotation or of citing. This mark 
consists of two commas placed thus : " There were many- 
men." It is used to inclose words taken from other writ- 
ings, or from other persons' discourse ; and, indeed, it is 
frequently used to inclose certain sentences, or words, of 
the writer, when he wishes to mark them as wholly distinct 
from the general course of any statement that he is making, 
or of any instruction that he is giving. I have, for instance, 
in the writing of these Letters to you, set off many of my 
examples by marks of quotation. In short, its use is to 
notify to the reader that such and such words, or such 
and such sentences, are not to be looked upon as forming 
part of the regular course of those thoughts which [that] 
are at the present time coming from the mind of the 
writer. 

152. This mark \%\ is found in the Bible. It stands 
for paragraph. This [§] is sometimes used instead of the 
word section. As to stars [*] and the other marks which 
[that] are used for the purpose of leading the eye of the 
reader to notes, in the same page, or at the end of the book, 
they are perfectly arbitrary. You may use for this purpose 
any marks that you please. But let me observe to you 
here, that notes ought seldom to be resorted to. Like pa- 
rentheses, they are interrupters, and much more trouble- 
some interrupters, because they generally tell a much longer 
story. The employing of them arises, in almost all cases, 
from confusion in the mind of the writer. He finds the 
matter too much for him. He has not the talent to work it 
all up into one lucid whole ; and, therefore, he puts part of 
it into notes. Notes are seldom read. If the text, that is 
to say, the main part of a writing, be of a nature to engage 
our earnest attention, we have not time to stop to read the 
notes : and if our attention be not earnestly engaged by the 



92 SYNTAX. [letter 

text, we soon lay down the volume, and of course read 
neither notes nor text. 

153. As a mark of abbreviation, the full-point is used : 
as, 4< Mr., Mrs." But I know of hardly any other words 
that ought to be abbreviated ; and if these were not it 
would be all the better. People may indulge themselves 
in this practice, until at last they come to write the greater 
part of their words in single letters. The frequent use of 
abbreviation is always a mark of slovenliness and of vul- 
garity. I have known Lords abbreviate almost the half of 
their words : it was, very likely, because they did not know 
how to spell them to the end. Instead of the word and, 
you often see people put &. For what reason I should like 
to know. But to this & is sometimes added a c : thus, &c. 
And is, in Latin, et, and c is the first letter of the Latin 
word ccetera, which means the like, or so on. Therefore 
this &°c. means and the like, or and so on. This abbrevia- 
tion of a foreign word is a most convenient thing for such 
writers as have too much indolence or too little sense to 
say fully and clearly what they ought to say. If you mean 
to say and the like, or and so on, why not say it ? This ab- 
breviation is very frequently made use of without the 
writer [*s] having any idea of its import. A writer on 
Grammar says, "When these words are joined to if, since, 
&c, they are adverbs." But where is the like of if, or of 
since ? The best way to guard yourself against the com- 
mitting of similar errors is never to use this abbreviation. 

154. The use of CAPITALS and italics I will notice in 
this place. In the books printed before the middle of the 
last century, a capital letter was used as the first letter of 
every noun. Capitals are now used more sparingly. We 
use them at the beginning of every paragraph, let the word 
be what it may ; at the beginning of every sentence which 



xiv.] SYNTAX. 93 

[that] follows a full-point ; at the beginning of all proper 
names ; at the beginning of all adjectives growing out of 
the names of countries, or nations : as, the English lan- 
guage ; the French fashion ; the American government. 
We use capitals, besides, at the beginning of any word, 
when we think the doing of it likely to assist in elucidating 
our meaning, but in general we use them as above stated. 
The use of italic characters in print is to point out, as 
worthy of particular attention, the words distinguished by 
those characters. In writing with a pen, a stroke is drawn 
under such words as we wish to be considered to be in 
italics. If we wish words to be put in SMALL CAPITALS, 
we draw two strokes under them: if in FULL CAPI- 
TALS, we draw three strokes under them. 

155. The last thing I shall mention, under this head, 
is the caret [a], which is used to point upward to a part 
which [that] has been omitted, and which [that] is inserted 
between the line, where the caret is placed, and the line 
above it. Things should be called by their right names, 
and this should be called the blunder-mark. I would have 
you, my dear James, scorn the use of this thing. Think 
before you write ; let it be your custom to write correctly 
and in a plain hand. Be as careful that neatness, grammar, 
and sense prevail, when you write to a blacksmith about 
shoeing a horse, as when you write on the most important 
subjects, and when you expect what you write to be read 
by persons whose good opinion you are most anxious to 
obtain or secure. Habit is powerful in all cases ; but its 
power in this case is truly wonderful. When you write, 
bear constantly in mind that some one is to read and to 
understand what you write. This will make your hand- 
writing, and also your meaning, plai7i. Never think of 
mending what you write. Let it go. No patching ; no 



94 SYNTAX, [letter 

after-pointing. As your pen moves, bear constantly in 
mind that it is making strokes which [that] are to remain 
forever. Far, I hope, from my dear James will be the 
ridiculous, the contemptible affectation, of writing in a 
slovenly or illegible hand ; or, that of signing his name 
otherwise than in plain letters. 

156. In concluding this Letter let me caution you 
against the use of what, by some, is called the dash. The 
dash is a stroke along the line : thus, " I am rich — I was 
poor — I shall be poor again." This is wild work indeed ! 
Who is to know what is intended by the use of these dashes? 
Those who [that] have thought proper, like Mr. Lindley 
Murray, to place the dash among the grammatical points ; 
ought to give us some rule relative to its different longitu- 
dinal dimensions in different cases. The inch, the three- 
quarter-inch, the half -inch, the quarter-inch : these would 
be something determinate ; but, "the dash," without meas- 
ure, must be a most perilous thing for a young grammarian 
to handle. In short, " the dash " is a cover for ignorance 
as to the use of points, and it can answer no other purpose. 
A dash is very often put in crowded print, in order to save 
the room that would be lost by the breaks of distinct para- 
graphs. This is another matter. Here the dash comes 
after a full-point. It is the using of it in the body of a 
sentence against which I caution you [that I caution you 
against. Better : The using of it in the body of a sentence 
is what I caution you against]. 



xv.] AS RELATING TO ARTICLES. 95 

LETTER XV. 

SYNTAX, AS RELATING TO ARTICLES. 

My dear James: 

157. Before you proceed to my instructions relative to 
trie employing of Articles, you will do well to read again 
all the paragraphs in Letter IV. Our Articles are so few 
in number, and they are subject to so little variation in 
their orthography, that very few errors can arise in the use 
of them. But, still, errors may arise ; and it will be neces- 
sary to guard you against them. 

158. You will not fall into very gross errors in the use 
of the Articles. You will not say, as in the erroneous pas- 
sage cited by Doctor Lowth,* "And I persecuted this 
way unto the death," meaning death generally ; but you 
may commit errors less glaring. " The Chancellor informed 
the Queen of it, and she immediately sent for the Secretary 
and Treasurer." Now, it is not certain here, whether the 
Secretary and Treasurer be not one and the same person ; 
which uncertainty would have been avoided by a repetition 
of the Article: "the Secretary and the Treasurer": and 
you will bear in mind that, in every sentence, the very first 
thing to be attended to is clearness as to meaning. 

159. Nouns which [that] express the whole of a species 
do not, in general, take the definite Article : as, " Grass is 
good for horses, and wheat for men." Yet, in speaking of 
the appearance of the face of the country, we say, " The 
grass looks well : the wheat is blighted." The reason of 

* Dr. Robert Lowth, 1710-1787, best known as the author of " Lec- 
tures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews," originally written in Lat- 
in. In 1763 he published a u Short Introduction to English Grammar," 
often since reprinted, and for many years much used in schools. Mur- 
ray's Grammar is but an enlarged copy of Lowth's. 



96 SYNTAX, [letter 

this is that we are, in this last case, limiting our meaning 
to the grass and the wheat, which [that] are on the ground 
at this time. " How do hops sell ? Hops are dear ; but the 
hops look promising." In this respect there is a passage in 
Mr. Tull which [that] is faulty : " Neither could weeds be 
of any prejudice to corny It should be " the corn " ; for 
he does not mean corn universally, but the standing corn, 
and the corn among which weeds grow ; and, therefore, the 
definite Article is required. 

160. "Ten shillings the bushel," and like phrases, are 
perfectly correct. They mean, " ten shillings by the bushel, 
ox for the bushel." Instead of this mode of expression we 
sometimes use, " ten shillings a bushel " : that is to say, ten 
shillings for a bushel, or a bushel at a time. Either of 
these modes of expression is far preferable to per bushel ; 
for the per is not English, and is, to the greater part of the 
people, a mystical sort of word. 

161. The indefinite Article a, or an, is used with the 
words, day, month, year, and others : as, once a day ; 
twice a month ; a thousand pounds a year. It means in a 
day, in a month, in, or for, a year ; and though per annum 
means the same as this last, the English phrase is, in all 
respects, the best [better]. The same may be said of per 
cent, that is per centwn, or, in plain English, the hundred, 
or a hundred : by ten per centum we mean ten for the hun- 
dred, or ten for a hundred ; and why can we not, then, say, 
in plain English, what we mean ? 

162. When there are several nouns following the indefi- 
nite article, care ought to [should] be taken that it accord 
with them : " a dog, cat, owl, and sparrow." Owl requires 
an ; and, therefore, the Article must be repeated in this 
phrase : as, a dog, a cat, an owl, and a sparrow. 

163. Nouns, signifying fixed and settled collections of 



xvi.] AS RELATING TO NOUNS. 97 

individuals, as thousand, hundred, dozen, score, take the in- 
definite Article, though they are of plural meaning. It is 
a certain mass, or number, or multitude, called a score ; and 
so on ; and the Article agrees with these understood words, 
which are in the singular number. 



LETTER XVI. 

syntax, as relating to nouns. 

My dear James: 

164. Read again Letter V, the subject of which is the 
Etymology of Nouns. Nouns are governed, as it is called, 
by verbs and prepositions ; that is to say, these latter sorts 
of words cause nouns to be in such or such a case ; and there 
must be a concord, or an agreement, between the Nouns 
and the other words, which [that], along with the Nouns, 
compose a sentence. 

165. But these matters will be best explained when I 
come to the Syntax of Verbs, for, until we take the verb 
into account, we can not go far in giving rules for the form- 
ing of sentences. Under the present head, therefore, I 
shall content myself with doing little more than to give some 
further account of the manner of using the possessive case of 
Nouns ; that being the only case, to denote which, our 
Nouns vary their endings. 

166. The possessive case was pretty fully spoken of by 
me in the Letter just referred to ; but there are certain 
other observations to make with regard to the using of it 
in sentences. When the Noun which [that] is in the pos- 
sessive case is expressed by a circumlocution, that is to say 
by many words in lieu of one, the sign of the possessive 

7 



98 SYNTAX, [letter 

case is joined to the last word : as, "John, trie old farmer's, 
wife." " Oliver, the spy's, evidence." It is however much 
better to say, " The wife of John, the old farmer." " The 
evidence of Oliver, the spy." 

167. When two or more Nouns in the possessive case 
follow each other, and are joined by a conjunctive conjunc- 
tion, the sign of the possessive case is, when the thing pos- 
sessed is the same, put to the last Noun only : as, " Peter, 
Joseph, and Richard's estate." In this example, the thing 
possessed being one and the same thing, the sign applies 
equally to each of the three possessive Nouns. But, 
" Peter's, Joseph's, and Richard's estate," implies that each 
has an estate ; or, at least, it will admit of that meaning ['s] 
being given to it, while the former phrase will not. 

168. Sometimes the sign of the possessive case is left 
out, and a hyphen is used in its stead : as, " Edwards, the 
government-spy." That is to say, " the government's spy " ; 
or, " the spy of the government." These two words, joined 
in this manner, are called a compound Noun : and to this 
compounding of Nouns our language is very prone. We 
say "chamber-floor, horse-shoe, dog-collar" ; that is to say, 
" chatnber's floor, horse's shoe, dog's collar." 

169. This is an advantage peculiar to our language. It 
enables us to say much in few words, which always gives 
strength to language ; and, after clearness, strength is the 
most valuable quality that writing or speaking can possess. 
11 The Yorkshiremen flew to arms." If we could not com- 
pound our words we must [should have to] say, " The men 
of the shire of York flew to arms." When you come to learn 
French, you will soon see how much the English language 
is better than the French in this respect. 

170. You must take care when you use the possessive 
case, not to use after it words which [that] create a confu- 



xvi.] AS RELATING TO NOUNS. 99 

sion in meaning. Hume has this sentence : " They flew 
to arms and attacked Northumberland y s house, whom they 
put to death." We know what is meant, because whom 
can relate to persons only ; but if it had been an attack on 
Northumberland's men, the meaning would have been that 
the men were put to death. However, the sentence, as it 
stands, is sufficiently incorrect. It should have been : 
" They flew to arms, and attacked the house of Northum- 
berland, whom they put to death." 

[Not so, for house and not Northumberland, as the sen- 
tence stands, is the antecedent of whom. Hume should 
have written: "They flew to arms and attacked the house 
of Northumberland, putting him to death," or " They flew 
to arms, attacked the house of Northumberland, and put 
him to death." The latter wording is the better.] 

171. A passage, from Doctor Hugh Blair,* the 
author of Lectiwes on Rhetoric, will give you another in- 
stance of error in the use of the possessive case. I take it 
from the 24th Lecture : "In comparing Demosthenes and 
Cicero, most of the French critics are disposed to give the 
preference to the latter. P. Rapin, the Jesuit, in the paral- 
lels which [that] he has drawn between some of the most 
eminent Greek and Roman writers, uniformly decides in 
favor of the Roman. For the preference which [that] he 
gives to Cicero, he assigns and lays stress on one reason, of 
a pretty extraordinary nature, viz., that Demosthenes could 
not possibly have so clear an insight as Cicero into the 
manners and passions of men. Why ? because he had not 
the advantage of perusing Aristotle's Treatise on Rhetoric, 

* Dr. Hugh Blair, 1710-1800, a native of Edinburgh and Professor 
of Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres in the University of that city. His 
celebrated Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres, many editions of 
which have appeared, were first published in 1783. 



too SYNTAX, [letter 

wherein, says our critic, he has fully laid open that ??iys- 
tery ; and to support this weighty argument, he enters into 
a controversy with A. Gellius, in order to prove that Aris- 
totle's Rhetoric was not published till after Demosthenes 
had spoken, at least, his most considerable orations." It is 
surprising that the Doctor should have put such a passage 
as this upon paper, and more surprising that he should 
leave it in this state after having perused it with that care 
which [that] is usually employed [exercised] in examining 
writings that are to be put into print, and especially writ- 
ings in which every word is expected to be used in a proper 
manner. In Bacon, in Tull, in Blackstone, in Hume, in 
Swift, in Bolingbroke : in all writers, however able, we 
find errors. Yet, though many of their sentences will not 
stand the test of strict grammatical criticism, the sense gen- 
erally is clear to our minds ; and we read on. But, in 
this passage of Dr. Blair, all is confusion : the mind is puz- 
zled : we at la'st hardly know whom or what the writer is 
talking about, and we fairly come to a stand. 

172. In speaking of the many faults in this passage, I 
shall be obliged to make here observations which [that] 
would come under the head of pronouns, verbs, adverbs, 
and prepositions. The first two of the three sentences are 
in themselves rather obscure, and are well enough calcu- 
lated for ushering in the complete confusion that follows. 
The he, which [that] comes immediately after the word 
because, may relate to Demosthenes ; but to what Noun 
does the second he relate? It would, when we first look 
at it, seem to relate to the same Noun as [that ?] the first 
he relates to ; for the Doctor can not call Aristotle's Treatise 
on Rhetoric a he. No : in speaking of this the Doctor says 
" wherein " : that is to say, in which. He means, I dare 
say, that the he should stand for Aristotle j but it does not 



xvi.] AS RELATING TO NOUNS. ioi 

stand for Aristotle. This Noun is not a nominative in the 
sentence ; and it can not have the pronoun relating to it as 
such. This he may relate to Cicero, who may be supposed 
to have laid open a mystery in the perusing of the treatise ; 
and the words which [that] follow the he would seem to 
give countenance to this supposition ; for what mystery is 
meant by the words " that mysteiy " ? Is it the mystery of 
Rhetoric, or the mystery of the manners and passions of 
men ? This is not all, however ; for the Doctor, as if be- 
witched by the love of confusion, must tack on another 
long member to the sentence, and bring forward another 
he to stand for P. Rapin, whom and whose argument we 
have, amid the general confusion, wholly forgotten. There 
is an error also in the use of the active participle perusing. 
" Demosthenes could not have so complete an insight as 
Cicero, because he had not the advantage of perusing? 
That is to say, the advantage of being engaged in perusing. 
But this is not what is meant. The Doctor means that he 
had not had the advantage of perusing ; or, rather, that he 
had not the advantage of having perused. In other words, 
that Demosthenes could not have, or possess, a certain kind 
of knowledge at the time when he made his orations, be- 
cause, at that time, he had not, or did not possess, the ad- 
vantage of having perused, or having finished to peruse the 
treatise of Aristotle. Toward the close of the last sen- 
tence the adverb "at least" is put in a wrong place. The 
Doctor means, doubtless, that the adverb should apply to 
considerable, and not to spoken; but, from its being im- 
properly placed, it applies to the latter, and not to the 
former. He means to say that Demosthenes had spoken 
the most considerable, at least, of his orations ; but as the 
words now stand, they mean that he had done the speaking 
part to them, if he had done nothing more. There is an 



102 SYNTAX, [letter 

error in the use of the word " insight" followed, as it is, 
by "into." We may have a look, or sight, into a house, but 
not an insight. This would be to take an inside view of 
an inside. 

[Cobbett's criticism of the word insight here is not well 
founded. Milton says, " Fraught with a universal insight 
into things," which, as insight is the equivalent of deep view, 
is a correct use of the word.] 

173. We have here a pretty good proof that a knowl- 
edge of the Greek and Latin is not sufficient to prevent 
men from writing bad English. Here is & pro found scholar, 
a teacher of Rhetoric, discussing the comparative merits 
of Greek and Latin writers, and disputing with a French 
critic ; here he is writing English in a manner more incor- 
rectly [incorrect] than you will, I hope, be liable [likely] to 
write it at the end of your reading of this little book. Lest 
it should be supposed that I have taken great pains to hunt 
out this erroneous passage of Doctor Blair, I will inform 
you that I have hardly looked into his book. Your broth- 
ers, in reading it through, marked a great number of er- 
roneous passages, from among which I have selected the 
passage just cited. With what propriety, then, are the 
Greek and Latin languages called the " learned languages " ? 



LETTER XVII. 

syntax, as relating to pronouns. 

My dear James: 

174. You will now read again Letter VI. It will bring 
you back to the subject of Pronouns. You will bear in 
mind that personal Pronouns stand for, or in the place of 



xvii.] AS RELATING TO PRONOUNS. 103 

nouns ; and that the greatest care ought always to be taken 
in using them, because, being small words, and in frequent 
use, the proper weight of them is very often unattended to. 

175. You have seen in the passage from Dr. Blair, 
quoted in the foregoing Letter, what confusion arises from 
the want of taking care that the Pronoun relate clearly to 
its nominative case, and that it be not left to be understood 
to relate to anything else. Little words, of great and sweep- 
ing influence, ought to be used with the greatest care ; be- 
cause errors in the using of them make such great errors 
in point of meaning. In order to impress, at the outset, 
these precepts on your mind, I will give you an instance 
of this kind of error from Addison ; and, what is well cal- 
culated to heighten the interest you ought to feel upon the 
occasion, is, that the sentence, which [that] contains the 
error, is by Dr. Blair held forth to students of languages, 
in the University of Edinburgh, as a peifect model of cor- 
rectness and of elegance. The sentence is from Addison's 
Spectator, Number 411 : " There are, indeed, but very few, 
who [that] know how to be idle and innocent, or have a 
relish of any pleasures that are not criminal ; every diver- 
sion they take is at the expense of some one virtue or other, 
and their very first step out of business is into vice or folly." 
Dr. Blair says: " Nothing can be more elegant, or more 
finely turned, than this sentence. It is neat, clear, and 
musical. We could hardly alter one word, or displace one 
member, without spoiling it. Few sentences are to be found 
more finished, or more happy." See Blair's 20th Lecture 
on Rhetoric. 

176. Now, then, my dear little James, let us see 
whether we plain English scholars have not a little more 
judgment than this professor in a learned University, who 
could not, you will observe, be a Doctor, until he had 



104 SYNTAX, [letter 

preached a sermon in the Latin language. What does the 
pronoun they mean in this sentence of Mr. Addison ? 
What noun does it relate to; or stand for? What noun is 
the nominative of the sentence ? The nominative of the 
sentence is the word few, meaning few persons. Very well, 
then, the Pronoun they relates to this nominative ; and the 
meaning of the sentence is this : " That but few persons 
know how to be idle and innocent ; that few persons have 
a relish of any pleasures that are not criminal ; that every 
diversion these few persons take is at the expense of some 
one virtue or other, and that the veiy first step of these few 
persons out of business is into vice or folly." So that the 
sentence says precisely the contrary of what the author 
meant ; or, rather, the whole is perfect nonsense. All 
this arises from the misuse of the Pronoun they. If, instead 
of this word, the author had put people in general, or most 
people, or most men, or any word or words of the same 
meaning, all would have been right. 

177. I will take another instance of the consequence of 
being careless in the use of personal Pronouns. It is from 
Judge Blackstone, Book II, Chapter 6: " For, the cus- 
tom of the manor has, in both cases, so far superseded the 
will of the Lord, that, provided the services be performed, 
or stipulated for by fealty, he can not, in the first instance, 
refuse to admit the heir of his tenant upon his death ; nor, 
in the second, can he remove his present tenant so long as 
he lives." Here are lord, heir, and tenant, all confounded. 
We may guess at the Judge's meaning ; but, we can not say 
that we know what it is ; we can not say that we are cer- 
tain whose life, or whose death, he is speaking of. 

178. Never write a personal Pronoun, without duly 
considering what noun it will, upon a reading of the sen- 
tence, be found to relate to. There must be a noun, ex- 



xvii.] AS RELATING TO PRONOUNS. 105 

pressed or understood, to which the Pronoun clearly relates, 
or you will not write sense. " The land-holder has been 
represented as a monster which [that] must be hunted 
down, and the fund-holder as a still greater evil, and both 
have been described as rapacious creatures, who [that] take 
from the people fifteen pence out of every quartern loaf. 
They have been told that Parliamentary Reform is no more 
than a half measure, changing only one set of thieves for 
another ; and that //^ymust go to the land, as nothing short 
of that would avail them." This is taken from the mem- 
orable report of a committee of the House of Lords, in 1817, 
on which report the cruel dungeon bill was passed. Now, 
to what nouns do these Pronouns relate ? Who [which] are 
the nominatives in the first sentence ? The land-holder 
and the ftmd-holder, to be sure ; and, therefore, to them do 
the Pronouns relate. These lords mean, doubtless, that 
the people had been told that the people must go to the land ; 
that nothing else would avail the people ; but, though they 
mean this, they do not say it ; and this part of their report 
is as false in Grammar as other parts of the report were in 
fact. 

179. When there are two or more nouns connected by 
a copulative conjunction, and when a personal Pronoun is 
made use of to relate to them, or stand for them, you must 
take care that the personal Pronoun agree with them in 
number. " He was fonder of nothing than of wit and 
raillery: but, he is far from being happy in it." This 
Doctor Blair, in his 19th Lecture, says of Lord Shaftesbury. 
Either wit and raillery are one and the same thing, or they 
are different things: if the former, one of the words is 
used unnecessarily ; if the latter, the Pronoun ought to 
[should] have been them and not it, 

180. When, however, the nouns take the disjunctive 



106 SYNTAX, [letter 

conjunction or, the Pronoun must be in the singular : as, 
*' When he shoots a partridge, a pheasant, or a woodcock, 
he gives it away." 

181. Nouns of number, or multitude, such as Mob, 
Parliament, Rabble, House of Commons, Regi7jfent, Court of 
King's Bench, Den of Thieves, and the like, may have 
Pronouns agreeing with them either in the singular or in 
the plural number ; for we may, for instance, say of the 
House of Commons, " They refused to hear evidence 
against Castlereagh when Mr. Maddox accused him of hav- 
ing sold a seat " ; or, " // refused to hear evidence." But, 
we must be uniform in our use of the Pronoun in this re- 
spect. We must not, in the same sentence, and applicable 
to the same noun, use the singular in one part of the sen- 
tence and the plural in another part. We must not, in 
speaking of the House of Commons, for instance, say, 
" They, one year voted unanimously that cheap corn was 
an evil, and the next year, it voted unanimously that dear 
corn was an evil. ,, There are persons who [that] pretend 
to make very nice distinctions as to the cases when these 
nouns of multitude ought to take the singular, and when 
they ought to take the plural, Pronoun ; but these distinc- 
tions are too nice to be of any real use. The rule is this : 
that nouns of multitude may take either the singular, or the 
plural, Pronoun ; but not both in the same sentence. 

182. As to gender, it is hardly possible to make a mis- 
take. There are no terminations to denote gender, except 
in the third person singular, he, she, or it. We do, how- 
ever, often personify this. Speaking of a nation, we often 
say she ; of the sun, we say he ; of the moon, we say she. 
We may personify things at our pleasure : but, we must 
take care to be consistent, and not call a thing he, or she, 
in one part of a sentence, and it in another part. The oc- 



xvil] AS RELATING TO PRONOUNS. 107 

casions when you ought to [should] personify things, and 
when you ought [should] not, can not be stated in any pre- 
cise rule. Your own taste and judgment will be your best 
guides. I shall give you my opinion about figures of speech 
in a future Latter. 

183- Nouns which [that] denote sorts, or kinds, of liv- 
ing creatures, and which [that] do not of themselves dis- 
tinguish the male from the female, such as rabbit, hare, hog, 
cat, pheasant, fowl, take the neuter Pronoun, unless we 
happen to know the gender of the individual we are 
speaking about. If I see you with a cock pheasant in your 
hand, I say, "Where did you shoot him?" but, if you tell 
me you have a pheasant, I say, " Where did you shoot it? " 

184. The personal Pronouns in their possessive case 
must, of course, agree in number and gender with their cor- 
respondent Nouns or Pronouns : " John and Thomas have 
been so foolish as to sell their land and to purchase what is 
called stock ; but their sister, who has too much sense to 
depend on a bubble for her daily bread, has kept her land ; 
theirs is gone forever ; but hers is safe." So they must, 
also, in their objective case : "John and Thomas will lose 
the interest of their money, which will soon cease to be paid 
to them. The rents of their sister will regularly be paid to 
her ; and Richard will also enjoy his income, which is to be 
paid to him by his sister." If there be nouns of both gen- 
ders used before Pronouns, care must be taken that no con- 
fusion or obscurity arise from the misuse of the Pronoun. 
Hume says : " They declare it treason to attempt, imagine, 
or speak evil of the king, queen, or his heirs." This has, 
at least, a meaning, which shuts out the heirs of the queen. 
In such a case the feminine as well as the masculine pro- 
noun should be used : " his or her heirs." 

185. Take care, in using the personal Pronouns, not to 



108 SYNTAX, [letter 

employ the objective case where you ought to employ the 
nominative ; and take care also of the opposite error, " Him 
strikes I ; Her loves he." These offend the ear at once. 
But when a number of words come in between the discord- 
ant parts, the ear does not detect the error. * It was some 
of those who [that] came hither last night, and went away 
this morning, who [that] did the mischief, and not my 
brother and me" It ought to be "my brother and /." 
For, I am not, in this instance, the object but the actor, or 
supposed actor. " Who broke that glass ? " " It was me" 
It ought to [should] be I ; that is to say, " It was / who 
[that] broke it" Fill up the sentence with all the words 
that are understood ; and if there be errors, you will soon 
discover them. After the words than and as, this error, of 
putting the objective for the nominative, is frequently com- 
mitted : as, " John was very rich, but Peter was richer than 
him j and, at the same time, as learned as him, or any of 
his family." It ought to be richer than he j as learned as 
he ; for the full meaning here is, richer than he was ; as 
learned as he was." But it does not always happen that 
the nominative case comes after than or as : " I love you 
more than him " ; "I give you more than him " ; "I love 
you as well as him " : that is to say, I love you more than / 
love hi?n j I give you more than I give to him ; I love you 
as well as / love him. Take away him and put he, in all 
these cases, and the grammar is just as good, only the mean- 
ing is quite different. " I love you as well as him" means 
that I love you as well as I love him ; but <4 1 love you as 
well as he," means, .that I love you as well as he loves you. 

186. You see, then, of what importance this distinction 
of cases is. But you must not look for this word, or that 
word, coming before or coming after, to be your guide. It 
is reason which [that] is to be your sole guide. When the 



xvil] AS RELATING TO PRONOUNS. 109 

person or thing represented by the Pronoun is the object, 
then it must be in the objective case ; when it is the actor, 
or when it is merely the person or thing said to be this or 
that, then it must be in the nominative case. Read again 
paragraphs 46, 47, and 48, of Letter V. 

187. The errors committed with regard to the con- 
founding of cases arise most frequently when the Pronouns 
are placed, in the sentences, at a great distance from the 
words which [that] are connected with them, and which 
[that] determine the case. "He and his sister, and not 
their uncle and cousins, the estate was given to." Here is 
nothing that sounds harsh ; but, bring the Pronoun close 
to the preposition that demands the objective case ; say the 
estate was given to he ; and then you perceive the gross- 
ness of the error in a moment. " The work of national 
ruin was pretty effectually carried on by the ministers ; but 
more effectually by the paper-money makers than they." 
This does not hurt the ear ; but it ought to be them ; 
" more effectually than by them" 

188. The Pronouns mine, thine, theirs, yours, hers, his, 
stand frequently by themselves ; that is to say, not followed 
by any noun. But then the noun is understood, " That is 
hers." That is to say, her property ; her hat, or whatever 
else. No difficulty can arise in the use of these words. 

189. But the use of the personal Pronoun it is a subject 
of considerable importance. Read again paragraphs 60 
and 61, Letter VI. Think well upon what you find there ; 
and when you have done that, proceed with me. This Pro- 
noun with the verb to be, is in constant use in our language. 
To say, " Your uncle came hither last night," is not the 
same thing as to say, " It was your uncle who came hither 
last night," though the fact related be the same. "// is I 
who write" is very different from " / wfite," though in 



HO SYNTAX, [letter 

both cases, my being writing is the fact very clearly ex- 
pressed, and is one and the same fact. " It is those men 
who [that] deserve well of their country," means a great 
deal more than, " Those men deserve well of their coun- 
try." The principal verbs are the same ; the prepositions 
are the same ; but the real meaning is different. " It is 
the dews and showers that make the grass grow," is very 
different from merely observing, that, " Dews and showers 
make the grass grow." 

190. Doctor Lowth has given it as his opinion that it 
is not correct to place plural nouns, or pronouns, after the */, 
thus used ; an opinion which [that] arose from the want of 
a little more reflection. The it has nothing to do, grammati- 
cally speaking, with the rest of the sentence. The it, together 
with the verb to be, express [expresses ?] states of being, in 
some instances, and in others this phrase serves to mark, in 
a strong manner, the subject in a mass, of what is about to 
be affirmed or denied. Of course, this phrase, which is in 
almost incessant use, may be followed by nouns and pro- 
nouns in the singular, or in the plural number. I forbear 
to multiply examples, or to enumerate the various ways in 
which this phrase is used, because one grain of reasoning 
is worth whole tons of memory. The principle being once 
in your mind, it will be ready to be applied to every class 
of cases, and every particular case of each class. 

191. For want of reliance on principles, instead of ex- 
amples, how the latter have swelled in number, and gram- 
mar books in bulk ! But, it is much easier to quote examples 
than to lay down principles. For want of a little thought 
as to the matter immediately before us, some grammarians 
have found out " an absolute case," as they call it ; and Mr. 
Lindley Murray gives an instance of it in these words : 
u Shame being lost, all virtue is lost." The full meaning of 



xvn.] AS RELATING TO PRONOUNS. in 

the sentence is this : " It being, or the state of things being 
such, that shame is lost, all virtue is lost." 

192. Owing to not seeing the use and power of this it 
in their true light, many persons, after long puzzling, think 
they must make the pronouns, which [that] immediately 
follow, conform to the cases, which [that] the verbs and 
prepositions of the sentence demand. " It is them, and not 
the people whom [that] I address myself to." " It was him, 
and not the other man, that I sought after.'" The preposi- 
tions to and after demand an objective case ; and they have 
it in the words whom and that. The Pronouns which [that] 
follow the it, and the verb to be, must always be in the 
nominative case. And, therefore, in the above examples, it 
should be, " It is they, and not the other people " ; " It was 
he, and not the other man." 

193. This it with, its verb to be is sometimes employed 
with the preposition for, with singular force and effect. 
" It is for the guilty to live in fear, to skulk and to hang 
their heads; but for the innocent it is to enjoy ease and 
tranquillity of mind, to scorn all disguise, and to carry them- 
selves erect." This is much more forcible than to say, 
" The guilty generally live in fear," and so on, throughout 
the sentence. The word for, in this case, denotes appro- 
priateness, or fitness ; and, the full expression would be 
this : a To the state of being, or state of things called guilti- 
ness, to live in fear is fitting, or is approp7'iate" If you 
pay attention to the reason on which the use of these words 
is founded, you will never be at a loss to use them properly. 

194. The word it is the greatest troubler that I know 
of in language. It is so small, and so convenient, that few 
are careful enough in using it. Writers seldom spare this 
word. Whenever they are at a loss for either a nominative 
or an objective to their sentence, they, without any kind of 



H2 SYNTAX, [letter 

ceremony, clap in an it. A very remarkable instance of 
this pressing of poor it into actual service, contrary to the 
laws of Grammar and of sense, occurs in a piece of compo- 
sition, where we might, with justice, insist on correctness. 
This piece is on the subject of Grammar ; it is a piece writ- 
ten by a Doctor of Divinity -, and read by him to students in 
grammar and language in an academy ; and the very sen- 
tence that I am now about to quote is selected, by the author 
of a Grammar, as testimony of high authority in favor of 
the excellence of his work. Surely, if correctness be ever 
to be expected, it must be in a case like this. I allude [re- 
fer] to two sentences in the " Charge of the Reverend 
Doctor Abercrombie to the Senior Class of the Philadel- 
phia Academy," published in 1806 ; which sentences have 
been selected and published by Mr. Lindley Murray,* 
as a testimonial of the merits of his Grammar ; and which 
sentences are, by Mr. Murray, given to us in the follow- 
ing words : " The unwearied exertions of this gentleman 
have done more toward elucidating the obscurities, and 
embellishing the structure of our language, than any other 
witter on the subject. Such a work has long been wanted ; 
and, from the success with which it is executed, can not be 
too highly appreciated" [valued]. 

195. As, in the learned Doctor's opinion, obscurities 
can be elucidated, and as, in the same opinion, Mr. Mur- 
ray is an able hand at this kind of work, it would not be 
amiss were the grammarian to try his skill upon this article 

* Lindley Murray, 1745-1826. His English Grammar first appeared 
in 1795, and has since that time enjoyed an extensive popularity. It is 
not to be supposed, however, that Cobbett is the only author that has 
questioned its merits. On the contrary, the gravest exceptions have 
been taken to some of its characteristics by critics whose opinions can 
not safely be disregarded. 



xvil] AS RELATING TO PRONOUNS. 1 13 

from the hand of his dignified eulogist ; for here is, if one 
may use the expression, a constellation of obscurities. Our 
poor oppressed it, which we find forced into the Doctor's 
service in the second sentence, relates to "such a work" 
though this work is nothing that has an existence, notwith- 
standing it is said to be u executed'' In the first sentence, the 
" exertions" become, all of a sudden, a "writer" : the exer- 
tions have done more than " any other writer " ; for, mind you, 
it is not the gentleman that has done anything : it is " the ex- 
ertions " that have done what is said to be done. The word 
gentleman is in the possessive [objective?] case, and has 
nothing to do with the action of the sentence. Let us give 
the sentence a turn, and the Doctor and the grammarian 
will hear how it will sound. " This gentleman's exertions 
have done more than any other writer" This is upon a level 
with " This gentleman's^* has killed more hares than any 
other sportsman!' No doubt Doctor Abercrombie meant to 
say, ' * The exertions of this gentleman have done more than 
those of any other writer. Such a work as this gentleman's 
has long been wanted : his work, seeing the successful 
manner of its execution, can not be too highly commended." 
Meant ! No doubt at all of that ! And when we hear a 
Hampshire plowboy say, " Poll Cherrycheek have giv'd I 
thick handkecher," we know very well that he means to 
say, "Poll Cherrycheek has given me this handkerchief;" 
and yet, we are but too apt to laugh at Jmn, and to call him 
ignorant ; which is wrong ; because he has no pretensions 
to a knowledge of Grammar, and he may be very skillful as 
a plowboy. However, we will not laugh at Doctor Aber- 
crombie, whom I knew, many years ago, for a very kind 
and worthy man, and who baptized your elder brother and 
elder sister. But if we may, in any case, be allowed to 
laugh at the ignorance of our fellow-creatures, that case cer- 



H4 SYNTAX, [letter 

tainly does arise when we see a professed grammarian, the 
author of voluminous precepts and examples on the sub- 
ject of Grammar, producing, in imitation of the possessors 
of invaluable medical secrets, testimonials vouching for the 
efficacy of his literary panacea, and when, in those very 
testimonials, we find most flagrant instances of bad 
Grammar. 

196. However, my dear James, let this strong and strik- 
ing instance of the misuse of the word it serve you in the 
way of caution. Never put an zYupon paper without think- 
ing well of what you are about. When I see many its in a 
page, I always tremble for the writer. 

197. We now come to the second class of Pronouns ; 
that is to say, the Relative Pronouns, of which you have 
had some account in Letter VI, paragraphs 62, 63, 64, 65, 
and 66 ; which paragraphs you should now read over again 
with attention. 

198. Who, which becomes whose in the possessive case, 
and whom in the objective case, is, in its use, confined to 
rational beings ; for though some writers do say, " the 
country whose fertility is great," and the like, it is not cor- 
rect. We must say, " the country the fertility of which!' 
But if we pa-sonify ; if, for instance, we call a nation a 
she, or the sun a he, we must then, if we have need of rela- 
tive Pronouns, take these, or the word that, which is a rela- 
tive applicable to rational as well as irrational and even in- 
animate beings. 

[" Mr. George Washington Moon discountenances the 
use of whose as the possessive of which. He says, * The 
best writers, when speaking of inanimate objects, use of 
which instead of whose! The correctness of this statement 
is doubtful. The truth is, I think, that good writers use 
that form for the possessive case of which that in their 



xvii.] AS RELATING TO PRONOUNS. 115 

judgment is, in each particular case, the more euphonious, 
giving the preference, perhaps, to of which. On this sub- 
ject Dr. Campbell says : * The possessive of who is properly 
whose. The pronoun which, originally indeclinable, had 
no possessive. This was supplied, in the common peri- 
phrastic manner, by the help of the preposition and the 
article. But, as this could not fail to enfeeble the expres- 
sion, when so much time was given to mere conjunctives, 
all our best authors, both in prose and verse, have now 
come regularly to adopt, in such cases, the possessive of 
who, and thus have substituted one syllable in the room of 
three, as in the example following : " Philosophy, whose end 
is to instruct us in the knowledge of nature," for ' * Philoso- 
phy, the end of which is to instruct us." Some grammarians 
remonstrate ; but it ought to be remembered that use, well 
established, must give law to grammar, and not grammar 
to use.' 

" Professor Bain says : * Whose, although the possessive 
of who, and practically of which, is yet frequently em- 
ployed for the purpose of restriction : " We are the more 
likely to guard watchfully against those faults whose de- 
formity we have seen fully displayed in others." This is 
better than " the deformity of which we have seen." " Prop- 
ositions of whose truth we have no certain knowledge." — 
Locke.' Dr. Fitzedward Hall says that the use of whose 
for of which, where the antecedent is not only irrational 
but inanimate, has had the support of high authority for 
several hundred years." — The Verbalist^ 

199. The errors which [that] are most frequent in the 
use of these relative Pronouns arise from not taking care to 
use who and who?n, when they are respectively demanded 
by the verbs or prepositions. "To who did you speak? 
Whom is come to-day?" These sentences are too glar- 



1 1 6 SYNTAX, [letter 

ingly wrong to pass from our pens to the paper ; but, as 
in the case of personal Pronouns, when the relatives are 
placed, in the sentence, at a distance from their antecedents, 
or verbs, or prepositions, the ear gives us no assistance. 
" Who, of all the men in the world, do you think I saw, 
the other day ? Who, for the sake of his numerous services, 
the office was given to." In both these cases it ought to 
be whom. Bring the verb in the first, and the preposition 
in the second case, closer to the relative: as, who I saw ; 
to who the office was given ; and you see the error at once. 
But take care ! " Who?n, of all the men in the world, do 
you think was chosen to be sent as an embassador ? Whom, 
for the sake of his numerous services, had an office of honor 
bestowed upon him." These are nominative cases, and 
ought to [should] have who ; that is to say, " who was 
chosen ; who had an office'' I will not load you with nu- 
merous examples. Read again about the nominative and 
objective cases in Letter V. Apply your reason to the sub- 
ject. Who is the nominative, and whom the objective. 
Think well about the matter, and you will want no more 
examples. 

200. There is, however, an erroneous way of employ- 
ing whom, which I must point out to your particular atten- 
tion, because it is so often seen in very good writers, and 
because it is very deceiving : " The Duke of Argyll, than 
whom no man was more hearty in the cause." " Cromwell, 
than who7n no man was better skilled in artifice." A hun- 
dred such phrases might be collected from Hume, Black- 
stone, and even from Doctors Blair and Johnson. Yet 
they are bad Grammar. In all such cases, who should be 
made use of: for, it is nominative and not objective. " No 
man was more hearty in the cause than he was ; no man 
was better skilled in artifice than he was" It is a very 



xvii.] AS RELATING TO PRONOUN'S. 117 

common Parliament-house phrase, and therefore presump- 
tively corrupt; but it is a Doctor Johnson phrase too: 
" Pope, than whom few men had more vanity." The 
Doctor did not say, " Myself, than whom few men have 
been found more base, having, in my Dictionary, described 
a pensioner as a slave of state, and having afterward my- 
self become a pensioner." * 

201. I differ, as to this matter, from Bishop Lowth, 
who says that M The relative who, having reference to no 
verb or preposition understood, but only to its antecedent, 
when it follows than, is always in the objective case : even 
though the Pronoun, if substituted in its place, would be in 
the nominative." And, then, he gives an instance from 
Milton: " Beelzebub, than whom, Satan except, none 
higher sat." It is curious enough that this sentence of the 
Bishop is, itself, ungrammatical ! Our poor unfortunate it 
is so placed as to make it a matter of doubt whether the 
Bishop meant it to relate to who, or to its antecedent. How- 
ever, we know his meaning ; but, though he says that who, 
when it follows than, is always in the objective case, he 
gives us no reasoti for this departure from a clear general 
principle : unless we are to regard as a reason the exam- 
ple of Milton, who has committed many hundreds, if not 
thousands, of grammatical errors, many of which the Bishop 
himself has pointed out. There is a sort of side-wind 
attempt at reason in the words, " having reference to no 

* The definition given by Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, of Pen- 
sioner, f§ as follows : " Pensioner — A slave of state hired by a stipend 
to obey his master. 

1 In Britain's senate he a seat obtains, 
And one more pensioner St. Stephen's gains.' — Pope." 
Under Pension Dr. Johnson says : l * In England it is generally under- 
stood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country.'* 



1 1 8 S YNTAX, [letter 

verb or preposition understood." I do not see the reason, 
even if this could be : but, it appears to me impossible that 
a Noun or a Pronoun can exist in a grammatical state with- 
out having reference to some verb ox preposition, either ex- 
pressed or understood. What is meant by Milton ? " Than 
Beelzebub none sat higher, except Satan." And when, in 
order to avoid the repetition of the word Beelzebub, the 
relative becomes necessary, the full construction must be, 
" no devil sat higher than who sat, except Satan " ; and not, 
" no devil sat higher than whom sat." The supposition 
that there can be a Noun or Pronoun, which [that] has 
reference to no verb, and no preposition, is certainly a mis- 
take. 

[Of this, Dr. Fitzedward Hall remarks, in his " Recent 
Exemplifications of False Philology " : " That any one but 
Cobbett would abide this as English is highly improbable ; 
and how the expression — a quite classical one — which he 
discards can be justified grammatically, except by calling 
its than a preposition, others may resolve at their leisure 
and pleasure."] 

202. That, as a relative, may, as we have seen, be ap- 
plied either to persons or [to] things ; but it has no posses- 
sive case, and no change to denote the other two cases. 
We say, "the man that gives, and the man that a thing is 
given to." But there are some instances when it can hardly 
be called proper [is not proper] to use that instead of who or 
whom. Thus, directly after a proper name, as in Hume : 
" The Queen gave orders for taking into custody the Duke of 
Northumberland, who fell on his knees to the Earl of Arun- 
del, that [who] arrested him." Who would have been much 
better, though there was a who just before in the sentence* 
In the same author : " Douglas, who had prepared his peo- 
ple, and that [who] was bent upon taking his part openly." 



xvii.] AS RELATING TO PRONOUNS. 119 

This never ought to [should] be, though we see it continu- 
ally. Either may do ; but both never ought to [should] be 
relatives of the same antecedent, in the same sentence. 
And, indeed, it is very awkward, to say the least of it, to 
use both in the same sentence, though relating to different 
antecedents, if all these be names of rational beings. " The 
Lords, who [that] made the first false report, and the Com- 
mons, that seemed to vie with their Lordships in falsehood, 
became equally detested." That, as a relative, can not 
take the preposition or verb immediately before it : as> 
" The man to whom I gave the book " ; but I can not 
say, " the man to that I gave the book " nor ; " the knife to 
that I put a handle." " Having defeated whom, he re- 
mained quiet " ; but we can not, in speaking of persons, 
say, " Having defeated that, he remained quiet." 

[That is right, if there were several earls of Arundel, 
not otherwise. — " The Lords who," etc. As certain lords 
are clearly meant, the relative must be that. That " either 
may do," is not true.] 

203. Which, as a relative Pronoun, is applied to irra- 
tional beings only, and, as to those beings, it may be em- 
ployed indifferently with that, except in the cases where 
the relative comes directly after a verb or a preposition, in 
the manner just spoken of. We say, " the town, the horse, 
the tree, which ; or to which " ; and so on. And we say, 
" the town, the tree, the horse, that" ; but not to or for that. 

204. We may in speaking of nouns of multitude, when 
the multitude consists of rational creatures, and when we 
choose to consider it as a singular noun, make use of who 
or whom, or of which, just as we please. We may say, 
" the crowd which was going up the street " ; or, " the 
crowd who was going up the street " ; but we can not 
make use of both in the same sentence and relating to 



120 SYNTAX, [letter 

the same noun. Therefore, we can not say, " the crowd 
who was going up the street and which was making a great 
noise." We must take the who, or the which, in both places. 
If such noun of multitude be used in the plural number, 
we then go on with the idea of the rationality of the indi- 
viduals in our minds ; and therefore we make use of tvho 
and whom ; " The assembly, who rejected the petition, 
but to whom another was immediately presented." 

[It is certainly better to say, The crowd or the assembly 
which (or that, if the sense demands it), than to say, The 
crowd or the assembly who.~\ 

205. Who, whose, whom, and which, are employed in 
asking questions ; to which, in this capacity, we must add 
what : " Who is in the house? Whose gun is that? Whom 
do you love best ? What has happened to-day ? " What 
means, generally, as a relative, " the thing which " : as, 
" Give me what [= the thing that] I want." It may be used 
in the nominative and in the objective case : " What hap- 
pens to-day may happen next week ; but I know not to what 
we shall come at last" ; or, " The thing which [that] hap- 
pens to-day may happen next week ; but I know not the 
thing which [that] we shall come to at last." 

206. Which, though in other cases it can not be em- 
ployed as a relative with nouns which [that] are the names 
of rational beings, is, with such nouns, employed in asking 
questions : as, 4 * The tyrants allege that the petition was 
disrespectful. Which of the tyrants ? " Again : " One of 
the petitioners had his head cleaved by the yeomanry. 

Which ? " That is to say, " Which of the petitioners was 
it?" 

207. What, when used in asking for a repetition of 
what has been said: as, what? means, "Tell me that 
which [that] or the thing which [that] you have said." 



xvii.] AS RELATING TO PRONOUNS. 121 

This word is used, and with great force, in the way of ex- 
clamation: "What, rob us of our right of suffrage, and 
then, when we pray to have our right restored to us, shut 
us up in dungeons ! " The full meaning is this : " What 
do they do ? They rob us of our right." 

203. It is not, in general, advisable to crowd these rela- 
tives together : but it sometimes happens that it is done. 
" Who, that has any sense, can believe such palpable false- 
hoods ? What, that can be invented, can disguise these 
falsehoods ? By whom, that you ever [have] heard of, was 
a pardon obtained from the mercy of a tyrant ? Some 
men's rights have been taken from them by force and by 
genius, but whose, that the world ever [has] heard of be- 
fore, were taken away by ignorance and stupidity ? " 

209. Whosoever, whosesoever, whomsoever, whatsoever, 
whichsoever, follow the rules applicable to the original 
words. The so is an adverb, which, in its general accepta- 
tion, means in like manner ; and ever, which is also an ad- 
verb, means, at any time, at all times, or always. These 
two words thus joined in whosoever, mean, who in any case 
that ?nay be ; and so of the other three words. We some- 
times omit the so, and say, whoever, whomever, whatever, 
and even whosever. It is a mere abbreviation. The so 
is understood ; and it is best not to omit to write it. Some- 
times the soever is separated from the Pronoun : " What 
man soever he might be." But the main thing is to under- 
stand the reason upon which the use of these words stands : 
for, if you understand that, you will always use the words 
properly. 

210. The Demonstrative Pronouns have been described 
in Letter VI, paragraph 67 ; and I have very little to add 
to what is there said upon the subject. They never change 
their endings, to denote gender or case ; and the proper 



122 SYNTAX, [letter 

application of them is so obvious that it requires little to be 
said about it. However, we shall hear more of these Pro- 
nouns, when we come to the Syntax of Verbs. One ob- 
servation I will make here, however, because it will serve 
to caution you against the commission of a very common 
error. You will hardly say, " Them that write ' ; but you 
may say, as many do, " We ought always to have a great re- 
gard for them who [that] are wise and good." It ought to 
be, "for those who [that] are wise and good " ; because the 
w 7 ord persons is understood : " those persons who [that] are 
wise and good " : and it is bad grammar to say, " them per- 
sons who [that] are wise and good." But observe, in another 
sense, this sentence would be correct. If I be [am] speak- 
ing of particular persons and if my object be [is] to make you 
understand that they are wise and good, and also that I love 
them ; then I say, very correctly, " I love them, who [ ; they] 
are wise and good." Thus : " The father has two children : 
he loves them who [ ; they] are wise and good ; and they 
love him, who [ ; he] is very indulgent." It is the mean- 
ing that must be your guide, and reason must tell you what 
is the meaning. " They, who can write, save a great deal of 
bodily labor," is very different from " Those who [that] can 
write save a great deal of bodily labor." The those stands 
for those persons ; that is to say, any persons, persons in 
general, who [that] can write ; whereas, the they, as here 
used, relates to some particular persons ; and the sentence 
means that these particular persons are able to write, and, 
by that means, they save a great deal of bodily labor. 
Doctor Blair, in his 21st Lecture, has fallen into an 
error of this sort : thus, " These two paragraphs are ex- 
tremely worthy of Mr. Addison, and exhibit a style, which 
[that] they, who [that] can successfully imitate, may esteem 
themselves happy." It ought to be those instead of they. 



xvii.] AS RELATING TO PRONOUNS. 123 

But, this is not the only fault in this sentence. Why say 
" extremely worthy " ? Worthiness is a quality which [that] 
hardly admits of degrees, and surely it does not admit of 
extremes ! Then, again, at the close : to esteem is to prize ; 
to set value on, to value highly. How, then, can men " es- 
teem themselves happy"? How can they prize themselves 
happy? How can they highly value themselves happy? 
My dear James, let chamber-maids and members of the 
House of Commons, and learned Doctors, write thus : be 
you content with plain words which [that] convey your 
meaning ; say that a thing is quite worthy of a man ; and 
that men may deem themselves happy. It is truly curious 
that Lindley Murray should, even in the motto in the 
title-page of his English Grammar, have selected a sentence 
containing a graimnatical error ; still more curious that he 
should have found this sentence in Doctor Blair's Lectures 
on Language ; and most curious of all that this sentence 
should be intended to inculcate the great utility of correct- 
ness in the composing of sentences. Here, however, are 
the proofs of this combination of curious circumstances: 
" They who [that] are learning to compose, and arrange 
their sentences with accuracy and order, are learning, at 
the same time, to think with accuracy and order." * Poh ! 
Never think a man either learned or good merely on ac- 
count of his being called a Doctor. 

[The using of those instead of they, as Cobbett suggests, 
does not suffice to make the meaning unquestionable. If 
we would shun even the possibility of being misunderstood, 
we must use the relatives in this wise : " Those persons 
(certain persons being understood or designated) who 
have (all) learned to write, are able to do it." — " Those 

* This sentence is retained in the eighth edition of Lindley Murray's 
English Grammar. London, 1853. 



124 SYNTAX, [letter 

persons (only) that have learned to write (i. e., such persons 
as have learned to write), are able to do it."] 

211. The Indeterminate Pronouns have been enumer- 
ated in Letter VI, paragraph 71. They are sometimes 
Adjectives ', as is stated in that paragraph. Whoever, what- 
ever, and whichever (that is, whosoever, whatsoever, which- 
soever), though relatives, are indeterminate, too. But, in- 
deed, it signifies little how these words are classed. It is 
the use of them that we ought to [should] look to. JEvejy, 
which I have now reckoned among these Pronouns, is never, 
nowadays, used without a noun, and is, therefore, in fact, 
an adjective. The error that is most frequently committed 
in using these Pronouns is the putting of the plural verb or 
plural Pronoun after nouns preceded by every, each, or 
either ; especially in the case of every : as, " every man ; 
every body ; every house." These are understood to mean, 
all the men, all the people, all the houses ; but, only one 
man, one body, one house, is spoken of, and therefore the 
verb ought to [should] be in the singular : as, " every body 
is disgusted " ; and not " every body are disgusted." 

212. Before you use any of these words, you should 
think well on their true meaning ; for, if you do this, you 
will seldom commit errors in the use of them. Doctor 
Johnson in his Rambler, Number 177, has this passage : 
" Every one of these virtuosos looked on all his associates 
as wretches of depraved taste and narrow notions. Their 
conversation was, therefore, fretful and waspish, their be- 
havior brutal, their merriment bluntly sarcastic, and their 
seriousness gloomy and suspicious." Now these theirs 
certainly relate to every one, though the author meant, with- 
out doubt, that they should relate to the whole body of vir- 
tuosos, including the every one. The word therefore adds to 
the confusion. The virtuosos were, therefore, fretful and 



xvil] AS RELATING TO PRONOUNS, 125 

waspish. What for? Was it because every one saw his 
associates in a bad light ? How can my thinking meanly 
of others make their conversation fretful ? If the Doctor 
had said, " These virtuosos looked on each other [one an- 
other] . . . ," the meaning would have been clear. 

213. The Pronoun either, which means one of two, is 
very often improperly employed. It is sometimes used to 
denote one of three or more, which is always incorrect. We 
say, " either the dog, or the cat''' : but not, " either the dog, 
the cat, or the pig" Suppose some one to ask me which I 
choose to have, mutton, veal, or woodcock ; I answer any 
one of them ; and not either of them. Doctor Blair has 
used any one where he ought to have used either : " The 
two words are not altogether synonymous : yet, in the pres- 
ent case, any one of them would have been sufficient." 

[Either and neither should not — strictly — be used in re- 
lation to more than two objects. But, though both either 
and neither are strictly applicable to two only, they have 
been for a very long time used in relation to more than 
two by many good writers ; and, as it is often convenient 
so to use them, it seems probable that the custom will pre- 
vail. When more than two things are referred to, any and 
none should be used instead of either and neither : as, ' * any 
of the three," not, "either of the three"; "none of the 
four," not, " neither of the four." — The Verbalist.] 

214. In concluding this Letter on the Syntax of Pro- 
nouns, I must observe that I leave many of these indeter- 
minate Pronouns unnoticed in a particular manner. To 
notice every one individually could answer no purpose ex- 
cept that of swelling the size of a book ; a thing which 
[that] I most anxiously wish to avoid. 



126 SYNTAX, [letter 

LETTER XVIII. 

SYNTAX, AS RELATING TO ADJECTIVES. 

215. By this time, my dear James, you will hardly 
want [need?] to be reminded of the nature of Adjectives. 
However, it may not be amiss for you to read again atten- 
tively the whole of Letter VII. 

216. Adjectives, having no relative effect, containing 
no representative quality, have not the dangerous power, 
possessed by pronouns, of throwing whole sentences into 
confusion, and of perverting or totally destroying the writ- 
er's meaning. For this reason, there is little to be said 
respecting the using of Adjectives. 

217. When you make use of an Adjective in the way 
of comparison, take care that there be a congruity, or fit- 
ness, in the things or qualities compared. Do not say that 
a thing is deeper than it is broad or long ; or that a man is 
taller than he is wise or rich. Hume says, " The principles 
of the Reformation were deeper in the Prince's mind than 
to be easily eradicated." This is no compa7ison at all. It 
is nonsense. 

218. When Adjectives are used as nouns, they must, in 
all respects, be treated as nouns. " The guilty, the inno- 
cent, the rich, the poor, are mixed together." But we can 
not say " a guilty," meaning to use the word guilty as a 
noun. 

219. If two or more Adjectives be used as applicable to 
the same noun, there must be a comma, or commas, to sep- 
arate them : as, " a poor, unfortunate man " ; unless and or 
or be made use of, for then a comma or commas may be 
omitted : as, " a lofty and large and excellent house." 

220. Be rather sparing than liberal in the use of Adjec- 



xviil] AS RELATING TO ADJECTIVES. 127 

tives. One which [that] expresses your meaning is better 
than two, which can, at best, do no more than express it, 
while the additional one may possibly do harm. But the 
error most common in the use of Adjectives is the endeav- 
oring [endeavor] to strengthen the Adjective by putting an 
adverb before it, and [omit] which adverb conveys the no- 
tion that the quality or property expressed by the Adjec- 
tive admits of degrees : as, " very honest, extre7nely just." 
A [one] man may be wiser than another wise man ; an 
[one] act may be 7nore wicked than another wicked act ; but 
a [one] man can not be more honest than another ; every 
man who [that] is not honest must be dishonesty and every 
act which [that] is not just must be unjust. " Very right," 
and " very wrong," are very common expressions, but they 
are both incorrect. Some expressions may be more com- 
mon than others : but that which [that, i. e., that thing 
that] is not right is wrong ; or that which [that] is not 
wrong is right. There are here no intermediate degrees. 
We should laugh to hear a man say, " You are a little 
right, I am a good deal wrong ; that person is honest in 
a trijling degree ; that act was too just." But our ears are 
accustomed to the adverbs of exaggeration. Some writers 
deal in these to a degree that tires the ear and offends the 
understanding. With them, everything is excessively or im- 
mensely or extremely or vastly or surprisingly or wonderfully 
or abundantly, or the like. The notion of such writers is 
that these words give strength to what they are saying. 
This is a great error. Strength must be found in the 
thought, or it will never be found in the words. Big-sound- 
ing words, without thoughts corresponding, are effort with- 
out effect. 

221. Care must be taken, too, not to use such adjectives 
as are improper to be applied to the nouns along with which 



128 SYNTAX, [letter 

they are used. " Good virtues ; bad vices ; painful tooth- 
aches ; pleasing pleasures." These are staringly absurd ; 
but, among a select society of empty heads, " moderate Re- 
form " has long been a fashionable expression ; an expres- 
sion which [that] has been well criticised by asking the 
gentlemen who [that] use it how they would like to obtain 
moderate justice in a court of law, or to meet with moderate 
chastity in a wife. 

222. To secure yourself against the risk of committing 
such errors, you have only to take care to ascertain the full 
meaning of every word you employ. 



LETTER XIX. 

SYNTAX, AS RELATING TO VERBS. 

223. Let us, my dear James, get well through this Let- 
ter ; and then we may, I think, safely say that we know 
something of Grammar : a little more, I hope, than is known 
by the greater part of those who [that, i. e., those persons 
that] call themselves Latin and Greek scholars, and who 
[that] dignify their having studied these languages with 
the name of " Liberal Education? 

224. There can be no sentence, there can be no sense 
in words, unless there be a Verb either expressed or under- 
stood. Each of the other Parts of Speech may alternately 
be dispensed with : but the Verb never can. The Verb 
being, then, of so much importance, you will do well to 
read again, before you proceed further, paragraphs 23, 24, 
25, and 26, in Letter III, and the whole of Letter VIII. 

225. Well, then, we have now to see how Verbs are 
used in sentences, and how a misuse of them affects the 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. I2p 

meaning of the writer. There must, you will bear in mind, 
always be a Verb expressed or understood. One would 
think that this was [is] not the case in the direction w T ritten 
on a post letter : " To John Goldsmith, Esq., Hambledon, 
Hampshire." But what do these words really mean? Why, 
they mean, " This letter is to be delivered to John Gold- 
smith, who is an Esquire, who lives at Hambledon, which 
is in Hampshire." Thus, there are no less than five Verbs 
where we thought there was no Verb at all. " Sir, I beg 
you to give me a bit of bread." The sentence which [that] 
follows the Sir is complete ; but the Sir appears to stand 
wholly without connection. However, the full meaning is 
this : " I beg you, who are a Sir, to give me a bit of bread*" 
" What, John ? " That is to say, " What is said by you, 
whose name is John ? " Again, in the date of a letter : 
"Long Island, March 25, 1818." That is: "/ am now 
writing in Long Island ; this is the twenty-fifth day of 
March, and this month is in the one thousand eight hun- 
dred and eighteenth year of the Christian Era." 

226. Now, if you take time to reflect a little on this 
matter, you will never be puzzled for a moment by those 
detached words, to suit which grammarians have invented 
vocative cases and cases absolute, and a great many other 
appellations, with which they puzzle themselves, and con- 
fuse and bewilder and torment those who [that] read their 
books. 

227. We almost always, whether in speaking or in writ- 
ing, leave out some of the words which [that] are necessary 
to a full expression of our meaning. This leaving out is 
called the Ellipsis. Ellipsis is, in geometry, an oval figure : 
and the compasses, in the tracing of the line of this figure, 
do not take their full sweep all round, as in the tracing of 
a circle, but they make skips and leave out parts of the area, 

9 



130 SYNTAX, [letter 

or surface, which parts would be included in the circle. 
Hence it is, that the skipping, over, or leaving out, in speak- 
ing or in writing, is called the Ellipsis ; without making 
use of which, we, as you will presently see, scarcely ever open 
our lips or move our pens. "He told me that he had given 
John the gun which [that] the gunsmith brought the other 
night." That is: "He told to me that he had given to 
John the gun, which [that] the gunsmith brought to this 
place, or hither, on the other night." This would, you see, 
be very cumbrous and disagreeable ; and, therefore, seeing 
that the meaning is quite clear without the words marked 
by italics, we leave these words out. But we may easily go 
too far in this elliptical way, and say, " He told me he had 
given John the gun the gunsmith brought the other night." 
This is leaving the sentence too bare, and making It to be, 
if not nonsense, hardly sense. 

228. Reserving some further remarks, to be made by- 
and-by, on the ellipsis, I have now to desire that, always, 
when you are examining a sentence, you will take into 
your view the words that are left out. If you have any 
doubt as to the correctness of the sentence, fill it up by put- 
ting in the left-out words, and if there be an error you will 
soon discover it. 

229. Keeping in mind these remarks on the subject of 
understood words, you will now listen attentively to me, 
while I endeavor to explain to you the manner in which 

Verbs ought to be used in sentences. 

230. The first thing is to come at a clear understand- 
ing with regard to the cases of nouns and pronouns as con- 
nected, in use, with Verbs and prepositions ; for, on this 
connection a great deal depends. Verbs govern, as it is 
called, nouns and pronouns ; that is to say, they sometimes 
cause, or make, nouns or pronouns to be in a certain case* 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 131 

Nouns do not vary their endings to denote different cases , 
but pronouns do ; as you have seen in Letter VI. There- 
fore, to illustrate this matter, I will take the pronoun per- 
sonal of the third person singular, which in the nominative 
case is he, possessive case his, objective case him. 

[But nouns also vary their forms in the possessive case ; 
as, man, man's, men, men's, etc.] 

231. When a man (it is the same with regard to any 
other person or thing) is the actor, or doer, the man is in 
the nominative case, and the corresponding pronoun is he. 
" He strikes." The same case exists when the man is the 
receiver ox endurer of an action. "He is stricken." It is 
still the same case when the man is said to be in any state 
or condition. "He is unhappy." Indeed, there is no dif- 
ference in these two latter instances ; for, "he is stricken," 
is no other than to say that " he is in a state ot condition, 
called stricken " [struck]. Observe, too, that in these two 
latter instances, the he is followed by the Verb to be : he 
is stricken, he is unhappy ; and observe, moreover, that 
whenever the Verb to be is used, the receiver, or be-er (if I may 
make a word) is, and must be, in the nominative case. But 
now let me stop a little to guard you against a puzzle. I 
say, " the Verb to be" ; but I do not mean those two words 
always. When I say the Verb to be, I may mean, as in the 
above examples, is. This is the Verb to be in the third 
person singular. " I write." I should say that here is the 
pronoun /and the Verb to write ; that is to say, it is the 
Verb to write in one of its forms. The to is the sign of the 
infinitive mode ; and the Verb in that state is the root, or 
the foundation, from which all the different parts or forms 
proceed. Having guarded ourselves against this puzzler, 
let us come back to our nominative case. The actor, the 
doer, the receiver of an action, the be-er, must always be in 



132 SYNTAX, [letter 

the nominative case ; and it is called nominative case be- 
cause it is that state, or situation, or case, in which the per- 
son or thing is named without being pointed out as the ob- 
ject, or end, of any foregoing action or purpose : as, " he 
strikes ; he is stricken [struck] ; he is happy." This word 
nominative is not a good word ; acting and being case, 
would be much better. This word nominative, like most 
of the terms used in teaching grammar, has been [was] 
taken from the Latin. It is bad ; it is inadequate to its in- 
tended purpose ; but it is used ; and if we understand its 
meaning, or, rather, what it is designed to mean, its intrin- 
sic insufficiency is of no consequence. Thus, I hope, then, 
that we know what the nominative is : "He writes ; he 
sings ; he is sick ; he is well ; he is smitten ; he is good " ; 
and so on, always with a he. 

232. But (and now pay attention) if the action pass 
from the actor to a person or thing acted upon, and if there 
be no part of the Verb to be employed, then the person or 
thing acted upon is in the objective case ; as, "He smites 
him; he strikes him; he kills him" In these instances 
we wish to show, not only an action that is performed and 
the person who [that] performs it, but also the person upon 
whom it is performed. Here, therefore, we state the actor \ 
the action, and the object ; and the person or thing which 
[that] is the object, is in the objective case. The Verb is 
said, in such instances, to govern the noun or pronoun ; 
that is to say, to make it, or force it, to be in the objective 
case ; and to make us use him instead of he. 

233. However, I remember that I was very much puz- 
zled on account of these cases. I saw that when " Peter 
was smitten" Peter was in the nominative case ; but that, 
when any person or thing "had smitten Peter," Peter was 
in the objective case. This puzzled me much ; and the loose 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 133 

•and imperfect definitions of my grammar-book yielded me 
no clew to a disentanglement. Reflection on the reason for 
this apparent inconsistency soon taught me, however, that, 
in the first of these cases, Peter is merely named, or nomi- 
nated as the receiver of an action ; and that, in the latter 
instance, Peter is mentioned as the object of the action of 
some other person or thing, expressed or understood. I per- 
ceived that, in the first instance, " Peter is smittett," I had a 
complete sense. I was informed as to the person who [that] 
had received an action, and also as to what sort of action 
he had received. And I perceived that, in the second in- 
stance, "John has smitten Peter" there was an actor who 
took possession of the use of the Verb, and made Peter 
the object of it ; and that this actor, John, now took the 
nominative, and put Peter in the objective case. 

234. This puzzle was, however, hardly got over when 
another presented itself; for I conceived the notion that 
Peter was in the nominative only because no actor was men- 
tioned at all in the sentence : but I soon discovered this to 
be an error : for I found that " Peter is smitten by John" 
still left Peter in the nominative : and that, if I use the 
pronoun, I must say, " he is smitten by John " ; and not 
14 him is smitten by John." 

235. Upon this puzzle I dwelt a long time : a whole 
week, at least. For I was not content unless I could rec- 
oncile every thing to reason ; and I could see no reason for 
this. Peter, in this last instance, appeared to be the object, 
and there was the actor, John. My ear, indeed, assured me 
that it was right to say, " He is smitten by John " ; but my 
reason doubted the information and assurances of my ear. 

236. At last, the little insignificant word by attracted 
my attention. This word, in this place, is a preposition. 
Ah ! that is it ! prepositions govern nouns and pronouns ; 



134 SYNTAX, [letter 

that is to say, make them to be in the objective case ! So that 
John, who had plagued me so much, I found to be in the 
objective case ; and I found that, if I put him out, and put 
the pronoun in his place, I must say, " Peter is smitten by 
him" 

237. Now, then, my dear James, do you clearly under- 
stand this ? If you do not, have patience. Read and think, 
and weigh well every part of what I have here written : for, 
as you will immediately see, a clear understanding with re- 
gard to the cases is one of the main inlets to a perfect knowl- 
edge of grammar. 

238. Verbs, of which there must be one at least, ex- 
pressed or understood, in every sentence, must agree in per- 
son and in number with the nouns or pronouns which [that] 
are the noniinatives of the sentence ; that is to say, the Verbs 
must be of the same person and same number as the nomi- 
natives are. Verbs frequently change their forms and end- 
ings to make themselves agree with the nominatives. How 
necessary is it, then, to know what is, and what is not, a 
nominative in a sentence ! Let us take an example, " John 
smite Peter." What are these words? John is a noun, 
third person, singular number, nominative case. Smite is a 
verb, first person, singular number. Peter is a noun, third 
person, singular number, objective case. Therefore, the 
sentence is incorrect ; for the nominative, John, is in the 
third person, and the Verb is in the first : while both ought 
to be in the same person. The sentence ought to be, " John 
smites Peter " ; and not " John smite Peter." 

[Here are more ought-to's where shoulds should be 
used.] 

239. This is, to be sure, a very glaring error : but still 
it is no more than an error, and is, in fact, as excusable as 
any other grammatical error. " The men lives in the coun- , 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 135 

try." Here the Verb lives is in the singular number, and 
the noun men, which is the nominative, is in the plural 
number. "The men live in the country," it ought to be. 
These errors stare us in the face. But when the sentences 
become longer, and embrace several nominatives and Verbs, 
we do not so readily perceive the errors that are committed. 
" The intention of the Act of Parliament, and not its sev- 
eral penalties, decide the character of the corrupt assembly 
by whom it was passed." Here the noun penalties comes 
so near to the Verb decide that the ear deceives the judg- 
ment. But the noun intention is the nominative to the 
Verb, which therefore ought to be decides. Let us take a 
sentence still more deceiving : " Without the aid of a fraud- 
ulent paper-money, the tyrants could never have performed 
any of those deeds, by which their safety have been endan- 
gered, and which [that] have, at the same time, made them 
detested." Deeds is the nominative to the last have and its 
principal Verb ; but safety is the nominative to the first 
have ; and therefore this first have ought to have been has. 
You see that the error arises from our having the plural 
noun deeds in our eye and ear. Take all the rest of the 
sentence away, and leave " safety have been " standing by 
itself, and then the error is as flagrant as "John smite Pe- 
ter" Watch me now, in the next sentence : " It must be 
observed that land fell greatly in price as soon as the cheats 
began to draw in their paper-money. In such cases the 
quantity and quality of the land is the same as it was be- 
fore ; but the price is reduced all of a sudden, by a change 
in the value and power of the money, which becomes very 
different from what it was." Here are two complete sen- 
tences, which [that] go very glibly off the tongue. There 
is nothing in them that offends the ear. The first is, in- 
deed, correct ; but the last is a mass of error. Quantity 



136 SYNTAX, [letter 

and quality, which are the nominatives in the first mem- 
ber of the sentence, make, together, a plural, and should 
have been followed, after the word land, by are and not 
by is ; and the it was, which followed, should, of course, 
have been they were. In the second member of the sen- 
tence, value and power are the nominatives of becomes, 
which, therefore, should have been become ; and then, again, 
there follows an it was instead of they were. We are mis- 
led, in such cases, by the nearness of the singular noun, 
which comes in between the nominatives and the Verbs. 
We should not be likely to say, " Quantity and quality 
is j value and power becomes." But when a singular noun 
comes in between such nominatives and the Verbs, we 
are very apt to be thinking of that noun, and to commit 
error. When we once begin, we keep on : and, if the sen- 
tence be long, we get together, at last, a fine collection of 
Verbs and pronouns, making as complete nonsense as heart 
can wish. Judge Blackstone, in the 4th Book, Chapter 
33, says : " The very scheme and model of the administration 
of common justice, between party and party, was entirely 
settled by this king ; and has continued nearly the same to 
this day." Administration of common justice was full upon 
the judge's ear ; down he clapped was j and has naturally 
followed : and thus, my dear son, in grammar as in moral 
conduct, one fault almost necessarily produces others. 

240. Look, therefore, at your nominative, before you 
put a Verb upon paper ; for, you see, it may be one word, 
or two or more words. But observe, if there be two or 
more singular nouns or pronouns, separated by or, which, 
you know, is a disjoining conjunction ; then, the Verb 
must be in the singular ; as, " A soldier or a sailor who 
[that] has served his country faithfully, is fairly entitled to 
a pension ; but who will say that a prostituted peer, a 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 137 

pimp, or a buffoon, merits a similar provision from the 
public ? " 

241. It sometimes happens that there are, in the nomi- 
native, two or more nouns, or pronouns, and that they are 
in different numbers \ or in different persons : as, " The min- 
ister or the borough-tyrants" These nouns can not have 
the Verb to agree with them both. Therefore, if it be the 
conspiring of these wretches against the liberties of the peo- 
ple, of which we have to speak, we can not say, " The min- 
ister or the borough-tyrants conspire"', because the Verb 
would not then agree in number with the noun minister : 
nor can we say conspires ; because the Verb would not agree 
with the noun borough-tyrants. Therefore, we must not 
write such sentences ; we must say, " The minister con- 
spires, or the borough-tyrants conspire, against the liberties 
of the people." Repetition is sometimes disagreeable to 
the ear ; but it is better to repeat, be it ever so often, than to 
write bad grammar, which is only another term for nonsense. 

242. When nominatives are separated by nor, the rule 
of or must be followed. " Neither man nor beast is safe in 
such weather " ; and not are safe. And if nominatives of 
different numbers present themselves, we must not give 
them a Verb which [that] disagrees with either the one or 
the other. We must not say, " Neither the halter nor the 
bayonets are sufficient to prevent us from obtaining our 
rights." We must avoid this bad grammar by using a dif- 
ferent form of words : as, " We are to be prevented from 
obtaining our rights by neither the halter nor the bayonets." 
And why should we wish to write bad grammar, if we can 
express our meaning in good grammar ? 

243. If or or nor disjoin nouns and pronouns of differ- 
ent persons, these nouns and pronouns, though they be all 
of the same number, can not be the nominative of one and 



138 SYNTAX, [letter 

the same Verb. We can not say, " They or I am in fault ; 
I, or they, or he, is the author of it ; George or I am the 
person." Mr. Lindley Murray says that we may use these 
phrases ; and that we have only to take care that the Verb 
agrees with that person which [that] is placed nearest to it ; 
but he says, also, that it would be better to avoid such 
phrases by giving a different turn to our words. I do not 
like to leave anything to chance or to discretion when we 
have a clear principle for our guide. Fill up the sentences, 
and you will see what pretty work here is. " They am in 
fault, or I am in fault ; I is the author, or they is the author, 
or he is the author ; George am the person, or I am the 
person." Mr. Murray gives a similar latitude as to the 
Verbs used with a mixture of plurals and singulars, as men- 
tioned in the foregoing paragraph. The truth, I suspect, 
is, that Mr. Murray, observing that great writers frequently 
committed these errors, thought it prudent to give up the 
cause of grammar, rather than seem to set himself against 
such formidable authority. But if we follow this course, it 
is pretty clear that we shall very soon be left with no prin- 
ciple and no rule of grammar. 

244. The nominative is frequently a noun of multitude : 
as, mob, parliament, gang. Now where this is the case, the 
Verb is used in the singular or in the plural, upon precisely 
the same principles that the pronouns are so used ; and as 
these principles, together with ample illustrations by the 
way of example, have been given you in Letter XVII, para- 
graph 181, I need say nothing more of the matter. I will 
just observe, however, that consistency, in the use of the 
Verb, in such cases, is the main thing to keep in view. 
We may say, " The gang of borough-tyrants is cruel " ; or, 
that " the gang of borough-tyrants are cruel " ; but if we go 
on to speak of their notoriously brutal ignorance, we must 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 139 

not say, " The gang of borough-tyrants is cruel and are also 
notoriously as ignorant as brutes." We must use is in both 
places, or are in both places. 

245. In looking for the nominative of a sentence, take 
care that the relative pronoun be not a stumbling-block, 
for relatives have no changes to denote number or person ; 
and, though they may sometimes appear to be of themselves 
nominatives, they never can be such. 4< The men who 
[that] are here, the man who [that] is here ; the cocks that 
crow, the cock that crows! 1 Now, if the relative be the 
nominative, why do the Verbs change, seeing that here is 
no change in the relative ? No : the Verb, in pursuit of its 
nominative, runs through the relatives to come at their 
antecedents, men, man, cocks, cock. Bishop Lowth says, 
however, that " the relative is the nominative when no 
other nominative comes between it and the Verb " ; and 
Mr. Murray has very faithfully copied this erroneous ob- 
servation. " Who is in the house ? Who are in the house ? 
Who strikes the iron ? Who strike the iron ? Who was in 
the street ? Who wet? in the street ? " Now, here is, in 
all these instances, no other nominative between the rela- 
tive and the Verb ; and yet the Verb is continually varying. 
Why does it vary ? Because it disregards the relative and 
goes and finds the antecedent, and accommodates its num- 
ber to that antecedent. The antecedents are, in these in- 
stances, understood: "What person is in the house? 
What persons are in the house ? What person strikes the 
iron ? What persons strike the iron ? What person was in 
the street ? What persons were in the street ? " The 
Bishop seems to have had a misgiving in his mind, when 
he gave this account of the nominative functions of the 
relative ; for he adds, 44 The relative is of the same person as 
the antecedent : and the Verb agrees with it accordingly." 



140 SYNTAX, [letter 

Oh ! oh ! but the relative is always the same, and is of any 
and of every number and person. How then can the Verb, 
when it makes its changes in number and person, be said to 
agree with the relative ? Disagree, indeed, with the relative 
the Verb can not any more than it can with a preposition ; 
for the relative has, like the preposition, no changes to de- 
note cases ; but the danger is that in certain instances the 
relative may be taken for a nominative, without your look- 
ing after the antecedent, which is the real nominative, and 
that thus, not having the number and person of the ante- 
cedent clearly in your mind, you may give to the Verb a 
wrong number or person. It is very seldom that those 
who [that] lay down erroneous rules furnish us with exam- 
ples by means of which we are enabled to detect the error 
of these rules ; yet, Mr. Murray has, in the present case, 
done this most amply. For in another part of his book he 
has these two examples : " I am the general who give the 
orders to-day. I am the general who [that] gives the orders 
to-day." Here the antecedents as well as the relatives are 
precisely the same ! the order of the words is the same ; 
and yet the Verbs are different. Why? Because in the 
first example, the pronoun / is the nominative, and in the 
second, the noun general. The first means, "/, who am 
the general here, give the orders to-day." The second 
means, " The general who [that] gives the orders to-day is 
I." Nothing can more clearly show that the relative can 
not be the nominative, and that to consider it as a nomi- 
native must lead to error and confusion. You will ob- 
serve, therefore, that when I, in the Etymology and Syntax 
as relating to relative pronouns, speak of relatives as being 
in the nominative case, I mean that they relate to nouns or 
to personal pronouns, which [that] are in that case. The 
same observation applies to the other cases. 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 141 

[There are few, if any, grammarians nowadays that 
take Cobbett's view of the subject treated of in this para- 
graph. " Clever as Cobbett's argument is, James," says my 
learned friend Prof. Davidson, " probably was not misled 
by it."] 

246. We are sometimes embarrassed to fix precisely on 
the nominative, when a sort of addition is made to it by 
words expressing persons or things that accompany it : as, 
" The Tyrant, with the Spy, have brought Peter to the 
block." We hesitate to detennine whether the Tyrant 
alone is in the nominative, or whether the nominative in- 
cludes the Spy ; and of course we hesitate which to employ, 
the singular or the plural Verb ; that is to say, has or have. 
The meaning must be our guide. If we mean that the act 
has been dojte by the Tyrant himself y and that the Spy has 
been a mere involuntary agent, then we ought to use the 
singular ; but if we believe that the Spy has been a co- 
operator ; an associate ; an accomplice ; then we must use 
the plural of the Verb. " The Tyrant with his Proclama- 
tion, has produced great oppression and flagrant violations 
of law." Has, by all means, in this case ; because the 
proclamation is a mere instrument. Give the sentence a 
turn : " The Tyrant has produced great oppression and 
flagrant violations of the law with his proclamation." This 
is good ; but " the Tyrant has brought Peter to the block 
with the Spy," is bad ; it sounds badly [bad] ; and it is bad 
sense. It does not say what we mean it should say. "A 
leg of mutton, with turnips and carrots, is very good." If 
we mean to say that a leg of mutton when cooked with 
these vegetables, is good, we must use is j but if we be 
speaking of the goodness of a leg of mutton, and these vege- 
tables taken altogether, we must use are. When with 
means along with t together with y in company with, and the 



142 SYNTAX, [letter 

like, it is nearly the same as and ; and then the plural 
Verb must be used. "He, with his bare hand, takes up 
hot iron." Not, " he, with his bare hand, take up." " He, 
with his brothers, are able to do much." Not, " is able to 
do much." If the pronoun be used instead of brothers, it 
will be in the objective case : " He, with them, are able to 
do much." But this is no impediment to the including of 
the noun (represented by them) in the nominative. With, 
which is a preposition, takes the objective case after it : but 
if the persons or things represented by the words coming 
after the preposition, form part of the actors in a sentence, 
the understood nouns make part of the nominatives. 
" The bag, with the guineas and dollars in it, were stolen." 
For if we say was stolen, it impossible for us to mean that 
the bag only was stolen. " Sobriety, with great industry and 
talent, enable a man to perform great deeds." And not en- 
ables : for, sobriety alone would not enable a man to do 
great things. "The borough-tyranny, with the paper- 
money makers, have produced misery and starvation." 
And not has ; for we mean that the two have co-operated. 
"Zeal, with discretion, do much"; and not, does much; 
for we mean, on the contrary, that it does nothing. It is 
the meaning that must determine which of the numbers we 
ought, in all such cases, to employ. 

[All wrong. An adjunct does not change the number of 
the nominative. " The tyrant, with (i. e., aided by) the spy, 
has brought Peter to the block." " Sobriety, with (i. e., 
coupled with) great industry and talent, enables a man to 
perform great deeds." " Zeal, with (i. e., directed by) dis- 
cretion, does much." If the second substantive is consid- 
ered as forming part of the subject, it should be connected 
by and.] 

247. The Verb to be sometimes comes between two 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 143 

nouns of different numbers. " The great evil is the bor- 
ough-debt." In this sentence there is nothing to embar- 
rass us ; because evil and borough-debt are both in the sin- 
gular. But, " the great evil is the taxes" is not so clear of 
embarrassment. The embarrassment is the same, when 
there is a singular noun on one side, and two or more sin- 
gulars or plurals on the other side : as, " The curse of the 
country is the profligacy, the rapacity, the corruption of the 
law-makers, the base subserviency of the administrators of 
the law, and the frauds of the makers of paper-money." 
Now, we mean here, that these things constitute, or form, 
or make up, a curse. We mean that the curse consists of 
these things ; and if we said this, there would be no puz- 
zling. " The evil is the taxes." That is, the taxes consti- 
tute the evil ; but we can not say, " the evil are the taxes " ; 
nor can we say, that the " curse are these things." Avoid, 
then, the use of the Verb to be in all such cases. Say, the 
curse of the country consists of, or arises from, or is pro- 
duced by. Dr. Blair, in his 19th Lecture, says, " A feeble, 
a harsh, or an obscure style, are always faults." The or 
required the singular Verb is ; but faults required are. If 
he had put is and faulty, there would have been no doubt 
of his being correct. But as the sentence now stands, there 
is great room for doubt, and, that, too, as to more than one 
point : for fault means defect, and a style, which is a whole, 
can not well be called a defect, which means a want of good- 
ness in a part. Feebleness, harshness, obscurity, are faults. 
But to call the style itself, to call the whole thing a fault, 
is more than the Doctor meant. The style may be faulty, 
and yet it may not be a fault. The Doctor's work is faulty ; 
but surely, the work is not a fault ! 

248. Lest you should be, in certain instances, puzzled to 
find your nominative case, which, as you now see, consti- 



144 SYNTAX, [letter 

tutes the main-spring and regulator of every sentence, I 
will here point out to you some instances wherein there is 
used, apparently, neither Verb nor nominative. " In gen- 
eral I dislike to drink wine." This in general is no more, 
in fact, than one word. It means generally. But some- 
times there is a Verb comes in : " generally speaking." 
Thus : " The borough-tyrants, generally speaking, are great 
fools as well as rogues." That is to say, "when we speak 
generally " ; or, " if we are speaking generally " ; or " when 
men or people speak generally." For observe that there 
never can be a sentence without a Verb expressed or under- 
stood, and that there never can be a Verb without a nomi- 
native case expressed or understood. 

249. Sometimes not only two or more nouns, or pro- 
nouns, may be the nominative of a sentence, but many other 
words along with them may assist in making a nominative : 
as, " Pitt, Rose, Steele, and their associates, giving to Wal- 
ter a sum of the public money, as a reward for libeling 
the sons of the king, was extremely profligate and base." 
That is to say, this act of Pitt and his associates was 
extremely profligate and base. It is, when you come to 
inquire, the act which [that] is the nominative, and all the 
other words only go to describe the origin and end of the 
act. 

250. You must take care that there be a nominative, and 
that it be clearly expressed or understood. " The Attorney- 
General Gibbs, whose malignity induced him to be ex- 
tremely violent, and was listened to by the Judges." The 
first Verb induced has a nominative, namely, the malignity 
of the Attorney-General Gibbs : but the was has no nomi- 
native, either expressed or clearly understood ; and, we can 
not, therefore, tell what or who it was that was listened to • 
whether the malignity of Gibbs, or Gibbs himself. It should 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 145 

have been, and who, or, and he, was listened to ; and then 
we should have known that it was Gibbs himself that was 
listened to. The omitting of the nominative, five hundred 
instances of which I could draw from Judge Blackstone 
and Doctor Johnson, arises very often from a desire to 
avoid a repetition of the noun or pronouns ; but repetition 
is always to be preferred before [to] obscurity. 

251. Now, my dear James, I hope that I have explained 
to you, sufficiently, not only what the nominative is, but 
what are its powers in every sentence, and that I have im- 
printed deeply on your mind the necessity of keeping the 
nominative constantly in your eye. For want of doing this, 
Judge Blackstone has, in Book IV, Chap. 17, committed 
some most ludicrous errors. " Our ancient Saxon laws 
nominally punished theft with death, if above the value of 
twelve-pence ; but the criminal was permitted to redeem his 
life by a pecuniary ransom ; as among their German ances- 
tors." What confusion is here ! Whose ancestors ? Theirs. 
Who are they ? Why the criminal. Theirs, if it relate to 
anything, must relate to laws ; and then the laws have an- 
cestors. Then, what is it that was to be of above the value 
of twelve-pence ? The death, or the theft? By u if above 
the value of twelve-pence," the Judge, without doubt, meant, 
" if the thing stolen were above the value of twelve-pence " ; 
but he says no such thing ; and the meaning of the words 
is, if the death were above the value of twelve-pence. The 
sentence should have stood thus : " Our ancient Saxon laws 
nominally punished theft with death, if the thing stolen were 
above the value of twelve-pence ; but the criminals were 
permitted to redeem their lives by a pecuniary ransom ; as 
among their German ancestors." I could quote, from the 
same author, hundreds of examples of similar errors ; but 
were there only this one to be found in a work which [that] 



146 SYNTAX, [letter 

is composed of matter which [that] was read, in the way 
of Lectures, by a professor of law to students in the Univer- 
sity of Oxford,even this one ought to be sufficient to convince 
you of the importance of attending to the precepts which 
[that] I have given you relative to this part of our subject. 

252. As to the objective case, it has nothing to do with 
Verbs ; because a noun which [that] is not in the nomina- 
tive must be in the objective ; and because Verbs do never 
vary their endings to make themselves agree with the ob- 
jective. This case has been sufficiently explained under 
the head of personal pronouns, which have endings to de- 
note it. 

253. The possessive case, likewise, has nothing to do 
with Verbs, only you must take care that you do not, in any 
instance, look upon it as a nominative. " The quality of 
the apples were good." No: it must be was; fox quality 
is the nominative ; and apples the possessive. " The want 
of learning, talent, and sense, are more visible in the two 
houses of parliament than in any other part of the nation." 
Take care upon all such occasions. Such sentences are, as 
to grammatical construction, very deceiving. It should be 
" is more visible " ; for want is the nominative ; and learn- 
ing, talent, and sense, are in the possessive. The want of 
learning, and so on. 

254. You now know all about the person and number of 
Verbs. You know the reasons upon which are founded their 
variations with regard to these two circumstances. Look, 
now, at the conjugation in Letter VIII, paragraph 98 ; and 
you will see that there remain the Times and Modes to be 
considered. 

255. Of Times there is very little to be said here. All 
the fanciful distinctions of perfect present, mo7'e past, and 
more perfect past, and numerous others, only tend to be- 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 147 

wilder, confuse, and disgust the learner. There can be but 
three times, the present, the past, the future ; and, for the 
expressing of these, our language provides us with words 
and terminations the most suitable that can possibly be con- 
ceived. In some languages which [that] contain no little 
words such as our signs, will, shall, may, and so on, the 
Verbs themselves change their form in order to express 
what we express by the help of these signs. There are two 
past times in French, for instance : I will give you an ex- 
ample in order to explain the matter. " The working-men, 
every day, gave money to the tyrants, who, in return, gave 
the working-men dungeons and axes." Now here is our 
word gave, which is the past time of the Verb to give. It 
is the same word, you see, in both instances : but you will 
see it different in the French : " Tous les jours les ouvriers 
donnaient de l'argent aux tyrants, qui, en retour, donnerent 
aux ouvriers des cachots et des haches. ,, You see that, in 
one place, our give is translated by donnaiejit, and the other 
place, by donnerent. One of these is called, in French, the 
past imperfect, and the other the past perfect. This dis- 
tinction is necessary in the French ; but similar distinctions 
are wholly unnecessary in English. 

256. In the Latin language, the Verbs change their end- 
ings so as to include in the Verbs themselves what we express 
by our auxiliary Verb to have. And they have as many 
changes, or different endings, as are required to express all 
those various circumstances of time which [that] we express 
by work, worked, shall work, may work, might work, have 
worked, had worked, shall have worked, may have worked, 
might have worked, and so on. It is, therefore, necessary 
for the Latins to have distinct appellations to suit these va- 
rious circumstances of time, or states of an action ; but such 
distinction of appellations can be of no use to us, whose 



143 SYNTAX, [letter 

Verbs never vary their endings to express time, except the 
single variation from the present to the past ; for, even as to 
the future, the signs answer our purpose. In our compound 
times, that is to say, such as / have worked, there is the Verb 
to have, which becomes had, or shall have, and so on. 

257. Why, then, should we perplex ourselves with a 
multitude of artificial distinctions, which [that] can not, by 
any possibility, be of any use in practice ? These distinc- 
tions have been introduced from this cause : those who [that] 
have written English Grammars have been taught Latin ; 
and either unable to divest themselves of their Latin rules, 
or unwilling to treat with simplicity that which [that] if 
made somewhat of a mystery, would make them appear 
more learned than the mass of people, they have endeav- 
ored to make our simple language turn and twist itself so 
as to become as complex in its principles as the Latin lan- 
guage is. 

258. There are, however, some few remarks to be made 
with regard to the times of Verbs : but before I make them, 
I must speak of the participles. Just cast your eye again 
on Letter VIII, paragraphs 97 and 102. Look at the con- 
jugations of the Verbs to work, to have, and to be, in that 
same Letter. These participles, you see, with the help of 
to have and to be, form our co?npound times. I need not 
tell you that / was working means the same as / worked, 
only that the former supposes that something else was going 
on at the same time, or that something happened at the 
time I was working, or that, at least, there is some circum- 
stance of action or of existence collateral with my work- 
ing : as, " I was working when he came ; I was sick while 
I was working ; it rained while I was working ; she scolded 
while I was working." I need not tell you the use of do 
and did j I need not say that I do work is the same as I work, 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 149 

only the former expresses the action more positively, and 
adds some degree of force to the assertion ; and that did 
work is the same as worked, only the former is, in the past 
time, of the same use as do is in the present. I need not 
dwell here on the uses of will, shall, may, might, should, 
would, can, could, and ??iust ; which uses, various as they are, 
are as well known to us all as the uses of our teeth and our 
noses ; and to misapply which words argues not only a de- 
ficiency in the reasoning faculties, but also a deficiency in 
instinctive discrimination. I will not, my dear James, in 
imitation of the learned doctors, pester you with a philo- 
logical examination into the origin and properties of words, 
with regard to the use of which, if you were to commit an 
error in conversation, your brother Richard, who is four 
years old, would instantly put you right. Of all these little 
words I have said quite enough before ; but when the 
Verbs to have and to be are used as auxiliaries to principal 
Verbs, and, especially, when the sentences are long, errors 
of great consequence may be committed ; and, therefore, 
against these it will be proper to guard you. 

259. Time is so plain a matter ; it must be so well 
known to us, whether it be the present, the past, or the 
future, that we mean to express, that we shall hardly say, 
" We work," when we are speaking of our having worked 
last year. But you have seen in Letter XVI, paragraph 
171 (look at it again), that Dr. Blair could make a mis- 
take in describing the time of an action. Doctor Blair 
makes use of " it had been better omitted." Meaning that 
it would have been better to omit it. This is a sheer vul- 
garism, like, " I had as lief be killed as enslaved." Which 
ought to be, " I would as lief." But the most common error 
is the using of the Verb to have with the passive participle, 
when the past time, simply, or the infinitive of the Verb, 



ISO SYNTAX, [letter 

ought to be used. "Mr. Speaker, I expected from the 
former language, and positive promises, of the Noble Lord 
and the Right Honorable the Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
to have seen the Bank paying in gold and silver." This is 
House-of-Commons language. Avoid it as you would avoid 
all the rest of their doings. I expected to see, to be sure, 
and not have seen, because the have seen carries your act of 
seeing back beyond the period within which it is supposed to 
have been expected to take place. " I expected to have plowed 
my land last Monday." That is to say, " I last Monday 
was in the act of expecting to have plowed my land before 
that day" But this is not what the writer means. He 
means to say that, last Monday, or before that day, he was 
in the act of expecting to plow his land on that day. " I 
called on him and wished to have submitted my manu- 
script to him." Five hundred such errors are to be found 
in Dr. Goldsmith's works. " I wished, then and there, to 
submit my manuscript to him." I wished to do something 
there, and did not then wish that I had done something 
before. 

[The locution, " It had been better," instead of, "It 
would have been better," is not a " sheer vulgarism." It is 
sanctioned by high grammatical authority and the usage of 
many careful writers. We may also say, " I had as lief," 
or " I would as lief," though the latter expression is gen- 
erally accounted preferable.] 

260. When you use the active participle, take care that 
the times be attended to, and that you do not, by misappli- 
cations, make confusion and nonsense. " I had not the 
pleasure of hearinghis sentiments when I wrote that letter." 
It should be of having heard ; because the hearing must be 
supposed to have been wanted previous [previously] to the 
act of writing. This word wanted, and the word wanting, 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. I5I 

are frequently misused. " All that was wanting was hon- 
esty." It should be wanted. " The Bank is weighed in the 
balance, and found wanting," and not wanted. Found to 
be wanting, or in want ; in want of money to pay its notes. 

261. I will not fatigue your memory with more exam- 
ples relating to the times of Verbs. Consider well what you 
mean / what you wish to say. Examine well into the true 
meaning of your words, and you will never make a mistake 
as to the times. " / thought to have heard the noble Lord 
produce something like proof." No ! my dear James will 
never fall into the use of such senseless gabble ! You 
would think of hearing something ; you would think of to 
hear, not to have heard. You would be waiting to hear, and 
not, like these men, be waiting to have heard. " I should 
have liked to have been informed oi the amount of the Ex- 
chequer Bills." A phraseology like this can be becoming 
only in those Houses where it was proposed to relieve the 
distress of the nation by setting the laborers to dig holes 
one day and [to] fill them up the next. 

262. It is erroneous to confound the past time with the 
passive participle of the Verb. But now, before I speak of 
this very common error, let us see a little more about the 
participles. You have seen, in Letter VIII, what the parti- 
ciples are : you have seen that working is the active parti- 
ciple, and wo7-ked the passive participle. We shall speak 
fully of the active by-and-by. The passive participle and 
the Verb to be, or some part of that Verb, make what is 
called the passive Verb. This is not a Verb which [that], 
in its origin, differs from an active Verb, in like manner as 
a neuter Verb differs from an active Verb. To sleep is neu- 
ter in its origin, and must, in all its parts, be neuter ; but 
every active Verb may become a passive Verb. The passive 
Verb is, in fact, that state of an active Verb which [that] 



l$ 2 SYNTAX, [letter 

expresses, as we have seen above, the action as being re- 
ceived or endured ; and it is called passive because the re- 
ceiver or endurer of the action is passive ; that is to say, does 
nothing. "John smites; John is smitten" Thus, then, 
the passive Verb is no other than the passive participle, used 
along with some part of the Verb to be. 

263. Now, then, let us see a specimen of the errors of 
which I spoke at the beginning of the last paragraph. When 
the Verb is regular, there can be no error of this sort ; be- 
cause the past time and the passive participle are written in 
the same manner : as, " John worked ; John is worked." 
But, when the Verb is irregular, and when the past time 
and the passive participle are written in a manner different 
from each other, there is room for error, and error is often 
committed: il John smote / John is smote." This is gross. 
It offends the ear ; but when a company, consisting of men 
who [that] have been enabled, by the favor of the late Will- 
iam Pitt, to plunder and insult the people, meet under the 
name of a Pitt Club, to celebrate the birthday of that cor- 
rupt and cruel minister, those who [that] publish accounts 
of their festivities, always tell us that such and such toasts 
were drank ; instead of drunk. I drank at my dinner to- 
day ; but the milk and water which [that] I drank were 
drunk by me. In the lists of Irregular Verbs, in Letter 
VIII, the differences between the past times and the pas- 
sive participles are all clearly shown. You often hear peo- ■ 
pie say, and see them write, " We have spoke ; it was spoke 
in my hearing " ; but " we have came ; it was did" are just 
as correct. 

264. Done is the passive participle of to do, and it is 
very often misused. This done is frequently a very great 
offender against Grammar. To do is the act of doing. We 
often see people write, " I did not speak, yesterday, so well 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 153 

as I wished to have done" Now, what is meant by the 
writer ? He means to say that he did not speak so well as 
he then wished, or was wishing, to speak. Therefore, the 
sentence should be, "I did not speak yesterday so well as 
I wished to do." That is to say, " so well as I wished to do 
it " ; that is to say, to do, or to perform, the act of speaking. 
265. Take great care not to be too free in your use of 
the Verb to do in any of its times or modes. It is a nice lit- 
tle handy word, and, like our oppressed it, it is made use of 
very often when the writer is at a loss for what to put down. 
To do is to act, and, therefore, it never can, in any of its 
parts, supply the place of a neuter Verb. Yet, to employ it 
for this purpose is very common. Dr. Blair, in his 23d 
Lecture, says : " It is somewhat unfortunate that this Num- 
ber of the Spectator did not end, as it might very well have 
done, with the former beautiful period." That is to say, 
" done it" And then we ask : done what? Not the act 
of ending : because, in this case, there is no action at all. 
The Verb means to come to an end ; to cease ; not to go any 
further. This same Verb to end is sometimes an active 
Verb : " I end my sentence " ; and then the Verb to do may 
supply its place : as, " I have not ended my sentence so 
well as I might have done " ; that is, done it : that is, 
done, or performed, the act of ending. But the Number of 
the Spectator was no actor ; it was expected to perform 
nothing : it was, by the Doctor, wished to have ceased to 
proceed. " Did not e7id as it might very well have ended. 
. . . ." This would have been correct ; but the Doctor 
wished to avoid the repetition, and thus he fell into bad 
Grammar. " Mr. Speaker, I do not feel so well satisfied as 
I should have done, if the Right Honorable Gentleman had 
explained the matter more fully." You constantly hear talk 
like this among those whom [that] the Boroughs make law- 



154 SYNTAX, [letter 

givers. To feel satisfied is, when the satisfaction is to arise 
from conviction produced by fact or reasoning, a senseless 
expression ; and to supply its place when it is, as in this 
case, a neuter Verb, by to do, is as senseless. Done what? 
Done the act of feeling ! I do not feel so well satisfied as 
I should have done, or executed, ox performed the act of feel- 
ing ! What incomprehensible words ! Very becoming in 
the creatures of corruption, but ridiculous in any other per- 
sons in the world. 

266. But do not misunderstand me. Do not confound 
do and did, as parts of a principal Verb, with the same 
words, as parts of an auxiliary. Read again Letter VIII, 
paragraph ill. Do and did, as helpers, are used with neu- 
ter as well as with active Verbs ; for here it is not their 
business to supply the place of other Verbs, but merely to 
add strength to affirmations and negations, or to mark time : 
as, " The sentence does end, I do feel easy." But done, which 
is the passive participle of the active Verb to do, can never 
be used as an auxiliary. The want of making this distinc- 
tion has led to the very common error of which I spoke in 
the last paragraph, and against which I am very desirous to 
guard you. 

267. In sentences which [that] are negative, or inter- 
rogative, do and did express time : as, * * You do not sleep ; 
did you not feel? " But they do not here supply the place of 
other Verbs : they merely help ; and their assistance is useful 
only as to the circumstance of time ; for we may say, " You 
sleep not ; felt you not ? " And if in answer to this question 
I say, " I did," the word feel is understood : " I did feel ! y 

268. Well, then, I think, that as far as relates to the 
active Verb, the passive Verb, and the passive participle, 
enough has now been said. You have seen, too, something 
of the difference between the functions of the active Verb, 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 155 

and those of the neuter; but there are a few remarks to be 
made with regard to the latter. A neuter Verb can not have 
a noun or a pronoun in the objective case immediately after 
it ; for though we say, " I dream a dream" it is understood 
that my mind has been engaged in a dream. "I live a 
good life" means that I am living in a good manner. " I 
walk my horse about," means that I lead or conduct my 
horse in the pace called a walk. Nor can a neuter Verb 
become passive ; because a passive Verb is no other than a 
Verb describing an action received or endured. " The noble 
Earl, on returning to town, found that the noble Countess 
was eloped with his Grace." I read this very sentence in an 
English newspaper not long ago. It should be had eloped ; 
for was eloped means that somebody had eloped the Countess : 
it means that she had received or endured, from some actor, 
the act of eloping, whereas, she is the actress, and the act is 
confined to herself. The Verb is called neuter because the 
action does not pass over to anything. There are Verbs 
which [that] are inactive : such as, to sit, to sleep, to exist. 
These are also neuter Verbs, of course. But inactivity is 
not necessary to the making of a Verb neuter. It is suffi- 
cient for this purpose that the action do not pass from the 
actor to any object. 

269. In the instance just mentioned the error is flagrant : 
" Was eloped" is what few persons would put down in writ- 
ing : yet anybody might do it upon the authority of Dr. 
Johnson : for he says, in his Dictionary, that to elope is an 
active Verb, though he says that it is synonymous with to 
run away, which, in the same Dictionary, he says, is a neu- 
ter Verb. However, let those who [that] prefer Doctor 
Johnson's authority to the dictates of reason and common 
sense say that " his Grace eloped the Countess ; and that, ac- 
cordingly, the Countess was eloped." 



156 SYNTAX, [letter 

270. The danger of error, in cases of this kind, arises 
from the circumstance of there being many Verbs which 
[that] are active in one sense and neuter in another. The 
Verb to endure, for instance, when it means to support, to 
sustain, is active : as, " I endure pain." But when it means 
to last, to continue, it is neuter : as, " The earth endures 
from age to age." In the first sense we can say, the pain is 
endured : but, in the last, we can not say the earth is en- 
dured from age to age." We say, indeed, I am fallen ; the 
colt is grown, the trees are rotten, the stone is crumbled, the 
post is moldered, the pitcher is cracked ; though to grow, to 
rot, to crumble, to molder, to crack, are all of them neuter 

Verbs. But it is clearly understood here that we mean that 
the colt is in a grown, or augmented state ; that the trees are 
in a rotten state ; and so on : and it is equally clear that we 
could not mean that the Countess was in an eloped state. 
" The noble Earl found that the Countess was gone." This 
is correct, though to go is a neuter Verb. But gone, in this 
sense, is not the participle of the Verb to go ; it is merely 
an adjective, meaning absent. If we put any word after it, 
which [that] gives it a verbal signification, it becomes er- 
roneous. " He found that the Countess was gone out of the 
house!' That is to say, was absent out of the house ; and 
this is nonsense. It must in this case be, " He found that 
the Countess had gone out of the house" 

271. Much more might be said upon this part of my 
subject ; many niceties might be stated and discussed ; but 
I have said quite enough on it to answer every useful pur- 
pose. Here, as everywhere else, take time to think. There 
is a reason for the right use of every word. Have your 
meaning clear in your mind ; know the meaning of all the 
words you employ ; and then you will seldom commit 
errors. 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 157 

272. There remains to be noticed the use of the active 
participle, and then we shall have a few, and only a few, 
words to say upon the subject of the modes of Verbs. As to 
the active participle, paragraph 97, in Letter VIII, will 
have told you nearly all that is necessary. We know well 
that / am working, means that / work, and so on. There is 
great nicety in distinguishing the circumstances which [that] 
call for the use of the one from those which [that] call for 
the other : but, like many other things, though very diffi- 
cult to explain by words, these circumstances are perfectly 
well understood, and scrupulously attended to, by even the 
most illiterate persons. The active participle is, you know, 
sometimes a noun in its functions : as, " Working is good 
for our health." Here it is the nominative case to the Verb 
is. Sometimes it is an adjective : as, " the working peo- 
ple." As a noun it may be in any of the three cases : as, 
" Working is good ; the advantage of working ; I like work- 
ing." It may be in the singular or in the plural : " The 
working of the mines ; the workings of corruption." Of 
course it requires articles and prepositions as nouns require 
them. More need not be said about it ; and, indeed, my 
chief purpose in mentioning the active participle in this 
place is to remind you that it may be a nominative case in a 
sentence. 

273. The modes have been explained in Letter VIII, 
paragraphs 92, 93, 94, 95, and 96. Read those paragraphs 
again. The infinitive ?node has, in almost all respects, the 
power of a noun. " To work is good for our health." Here 
it is the nominative of the sentence. " To eat, to drink, 
and to sleep, are necessary." It can not become a plural ; 
but it may be, and frequently is, in the objective case : as, 
"/ want to eat." The to is, in some few cases, omitted 
when the infinitive is in the objective case : as, " / dare 



158 SYNTAX, [letter 

wiite" But, "I dare to write," is just as neat, and more 
proper. The to is omitted by the use of the ellipsis : as, 
" I like to shoot, hunt, and course." But care must be taken 
not to leave out the to, if you thereby make the meaning 
doubtful. Repetition is sometimes disagreeable, and tends 
to enfeeble language ; but it is always preferable to ob- 
scurity. 

274. If you cast your eye once more on the conjugation 
of the Verb to work, in Letter VIII, you will see that I 
have there set down the three other modes, with all their 
persons, numbers, and times. The imperative mode I dis- 
patched very quietly by a single short paragraph ; and, in- 
deed, in treating of the other two modes, the indicative and 
the subjunctive, there is nothing to do but to point out the 
trifling variations that our Verbs undergo in order to make 
them suit their forms to the differences of mode. The in- 
dicative mode is that manner of using the Verb which [that] 
is applied when we are speaking of an action without any 
other action being at all connected with it, so as to make 
the one a condition or consequence of the other. " He works 
every day ; he rides out " ; and so on. But, there may be a 
condition or a consequence dependent on this working and 
riding : and in that case these Verbs must be in the sub- 
junctive mode ; because the action they express depends on 
something else, going before or coming after. " If he work 
every day, he shall be paid every day : if he ride out, he will 
not be at home by supper-time." The s is dropped at the 
end of the Verb here ; and the true cause is this, that there 
is a sign understood. If filled up, the sentence would stand 
thus : " If he should work ,; if he should ride out." So that, 
after all, the Verb has, in reality, no change of tenninatiojt 
to denote what is called ?node. And all the fuss which [that] 
Grammarians have made about the potential modes, and 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS. 159 

other fanciful distinctions of the kind, only serve [serve 
only] to puzzle and perplex the learner. 

275. Verbs in general, and, indeed, all the Verbs, ex- 
cept the Verb to be, have always the sa??ie form in the pres- 
ent ti??ie #f the i?idicative and in that of tJie subjunctive ; in 
all the persons, save the second and third person singular. 
Thus, we say, in the present of the indicative, / work, we 
work, you work, they work ; and in the subjunctive the same. 
But we say, in the former, thou workest, he works ; while, 
in the subjunctive, we say, thou work, he work ; that is to 
say, thou mayst work, or mightest, or shouldest (and so on), 
work ; and he may work, or might or should, as the sense 
may require. Therefore, as to all Verbs, except the Verb 
to be, it is only in these two persons that anything can hap- 
pen to render any distinction of mode necessary. But the 
Verb to be has more variation than any other Verb. All 
other Verbs have the same form in their indicative present 
time as in their infinitive mode, with the trifling exception 
of the st and s added to the second and third person singu- 
lar : as, to have, to write, to work, to run ; I have, I wi'ite, 
I work, I run. But the Verb to be becomes, in the present 
time of its indicative, I am, thou art, he is, we are, you are, 
they are ; which are great changes. Therefore, as the sub- 
junctive, in all its persons, takes the infinitive of the Verb 
without any change at all, the Verb to be exhibits the use of 
this mode most clearly ; for, instead of I am, thou art, he 
is, we are, the subjunctive requires, I be, thou be, he be, we 
be ; that is to say, I may be, or might be : and so on. Look 
now at the conjugatio?i of the Verb to be, in Letter VIII, 
paragraph 117 ; and then come back to me. 

276. You see, then, that this important Verb, to be, has 
a form in some of its persons appropriated to the subjunctive 
mode. This is a matter of consequence. Distinctions, with- 



160 SYNTAX, [letter 

out differences in the things distinguished, are fanciful, and, 
at best, useless. Here is a real difference ; a practical differ- 
ence ; a difference in the form of the word. Here is a. past 
time of the subjunctive ; a past time distinguished, in some 
of its persons, by a different manner of spelling or writing 
the word. If I be ; if I were ; if he were ; and not if I was, 
if he was. In the case of other Verbs, the past of the in- 
dicative is the same as the past of the subjunctive ; that is 
to say, the Verb is written in the same letters : but in the 
case of the Verb to be it is otherwise. If I worked, if I 
smote, if I had. Here the Verbs are the same as in I 
worked, I smote, I had ; but in the case of the Verb to be, 
we must say, in the past of the indicative, I was, and in 
that of the subjunctive, if I were. 

277. The question, then, is this : What are the cases in 
which we ought to use the subjunctive form? Bishop 
Lowth, and, on his authority, Mr. Lindley Murray, have 
said, that some conjunctions have a government of verbs ; 
that is to say, make them or force them to be in the subjunctive 
mode. And then these gentlemen mention particularly the 
conjunctions if, though, unless, and some others. But (and 
these gentlemen allow it), the Verbs which [that] follow 
these conjunctions are not always in the subjunctive mode ; 
and the using of that mode must depend, not upon the con- 
junction, but upon the sense of the whole sentence. How, 
then, can the conjunction govern the Verb ? It is the sense, 
the meaning of the whole sentence, which [that] must gov- 
ern ; and of this you will presently see clear proof. " If it 
be dark, do not come home. If eating is necessary to man, 
he ought not to be a glutton." In the first of these sen- 
tences, the matter expressed by the Verb may be or may not 
be. There exists an uncertainty on the subject. And if 
the sentence were filled up, it would stand thus : " If it 



xix.] AS RELATING TO VERBS, 161 

should be dark, do not come home." But in the second 
sentence there exists no such uncertainty. We know, and 
all the world knows, that eating is necessary to man. We 
could not fill up the sentence with should ; and, therefore, 
we make use of is. Thus, then, the conjunction if, which 
you see is employed in both cases, has nothing at all to do 
with the government of the verb. It is the sense which 
[that] governs. 

278. There is a great necessity for care as to this 
matter ; for the meaning of what we write is very much 
affected when we make use of the modes indiscriminately. 
Let us take an instance. " Though her chastity be right 
and becoming, it gives her no claim to praise ; because she 
would be criminal if she were not chaste." Now, by em- 
ploying the subjunctive, in the first member of the sentence, 
we leave it uncertain whether it be right or not for her to 
be chaste ; and, by employing it in the second, we express 
a doubt as to the fact of her chastity. We mean neither of 
these ; and, therefore, notwithstanding here are a though 
and [an] if, both the Verbs ought to be in the indicative. 
" Though her chastity is right and becoming, it gives her 
no claim to praise : because, she would be criminal if she 
was [were] not chaste." Fill up with the signs. u Though 
her chastity may be right ; if she should not be chaste " ; and 
then you see, at once, what a difference there is in the 
meaning. 

279. The subjunctive is necessarily always used where 
a sign is left out : as, " Take care that he come to-morrow, 
that you be ready to receive him, that he be well received, 
and that all things be duly prepared for his entertainment." 
Fill up with the signs, and you will see the reason for what 
you write. 

280. The Verb to be is sometimes used thus : " Were he 

ii 



162 SYNTAX, [letter 

rich, I should not like him the better. Were it not dark, I 
would go." That is to say, if he were : if it were. " It 
were a jest, indeed, to consider a set of seat-sellers and seat- 
buyers as a lawful legislative body. // were to violate 
every principle of morality to consider honesty as a virtue, 
when not to be honest is a crime which [that] the law 
punishes." The it stands for a great deal here. " Ridicu- 
lous, indeed, would the state of our minds be, if it were 
such as to exhibit a set of seat-sellers and seat-buyers as a 
lawful legislative body." I mention these instances be- 
cause they appear unaccountable ; and I never like to slur 
things over. Those expressions for the using of which we 
can not give a reason ought not to be used at all. 

281. As to instances in which authors have violated 
the principles of Grammar, with respect to the use of the 
modes, I could easily fill a book much larger than this with 
instances of this kind from Judge Blackstone and Doctor 
Johnson. One only shall suffice. I take it from the 
Judge's first Book : " Therefore, if the king purchases 
lands of the nature of gavelkind, where all the sons inherit 
equally ; yet, upon the king's demise, his eldest son shall 
succeed to these lands alone'' Here is fine confusion, not 
to say something inclining toward high-treason ; for, if the 
king's son be to inherit these lands alone, he, of course, is 
not to inherit the crown. But, it is the Verb purchases with 
which we have to do at present. Now, it is notorious that 
the king does not purchase land in gavelkind, or any other 
lands ; whereas, from the form of the Verb, it is taken for 
granted that he does it. It should have been, " If the king 
purchase lands " ; that is to say, if he were to purchase, or if 
he should purchase. 

282. Thus, my dear James, have I gone through all 
that appeared to me of importance, relating to Verbs. 



xx.] AS RELATING TO ADVERBS, ETC, 163 

Every part of the Letter ought to [should] be carefully read, 
and its meaning ought to [should] be well weighed in your 
mind ; but always recollect that, in the using of Verbs, 
that which [that] requires your first and most earnest care 
is the ascertaining of the nominative of the sentence ; for, 
out of every hundred grammatical errors, full fifty, I be- 
lieve, are committed for want of due attention as to this 
matter. 



LETTER XX. 



SYNTAX, AS RELATING TO ADVERBS, PREPOSITIONS, AND 
CONJUNCTIONS. 

283. After what has been said, my dear James, on the 
subject of the Verb, there remains little to be added. The 
Adverbs, Prepositions, and Conjunctions, are all words 
which [that] never vary their endings. Their uses have 
been sufficiently illustrated in the Letters on the Syntax, 
of Nouns, Pronouns, and Verbs. In a Letter which [that] 
is yet to come, and which [that] will contain specimens of 
false Grammar, the misuse of many words, belonging to 
these inferior Parts of Speech, will be noticed ; but it would 
be a waste of your time to detain you by [with] an elabo- 
rate account of that which [that] it is, by this time, hardly 
possible for you not to understand. 

284. Some grammarians have given lists of Adverbs, 
Prepositions, and Conjunctions. For what reason I know 
not, seeing that they have not attempted to give lists of the 
words of other Parts of Speech. These lists must be de- 
fective, and, therefore, worse than no lists. To find out 
the meaning of single words, the Dictionary is the place. 
The business of Grammar is to show the connection be- 



1 64 SYNTAX, ETC. [letter 

tween words, and the manner of using words properly. 
The sole cause of this dwelling upon these Parts of Speech 
appears to me to have been a notion that they would seem 
to be neglected, unless a certain number of pages of the 
book were allotted to each. To be sure, each of them is a 
part of Speech, as completely as the little finger is a part of 
the body : but few persons will think that, because we des- 
cant very frequently, and at great length, upon the qualities 
of the head and heart, we ought to do the same with regard 
to the qualities of the little finger. 

285. I omitted, in the Letter on Verbs, to notice the 
use of the word thing ; and I am not sorry that I did, be- 
cause by my noticing it in this concluding paragraph, the 
matter may make a deeper impression on your mind. Thing 
is, of course, a noun. Kpen is a thing, and every animal, 
or creature, animate or inanimate, is a thing. We apply it 
to the representing of every creature in the universe, ex- 
cept to men, women, and children ; and a creature is that 
which [that] has been created, be it living, like a horse, or 
dead, like dirt or stones. The use of the word thing, as far 
as this goes, is plainly reconcilable to reason ; but " to get 
drunk is a beastly thing." Here is neither human being, 
irrational animal, nor inanimate creature. Here is merely 
an action. Well, then, this action is the thing ; for, as you 
have seen in Letter XIX, paragraph 273, a verb in the in- 
finitive mode has, in almost all respects, the function and 
powers of a noun. " It is a most atrocious thing to uphold 
the Bank of England in refusing to give gold for its promis- 
sory notes, and to compel the nation to submit to the wrong 
that it sustained from that refusal." The meaning is, that 
the whole of these measures or transactions constituted a 
most atrocious deed or thing. 



XXI.] SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR. 165 



LETTER XXL 

SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR, TAKEN FROM THE WRIT- 
INGS OF DOCTOR JOHNSON AND FROM THOSE OF DOC- 
tor watts. 

My dear James: 

The chief object of this letter is to prove to you the ne- 
cessity of using great care and caution in the construction 
of your sentences. When you see writers like Dr. Johnson 
and Dr. Watts committing grammatical errors, and, in some 
instances, making their words amount to nonsense, or at 
least make their meaning doubtful ; when you see this in 
the author of a Grammar and of a Dictionary of the Eng- 
lish Language, and in the author of a work on the subject 
of Logic ; and when you are informed that these were two 
of the most learned men that England [has] ever produced, 
you can not fail to be convinced that constant care and 
caution are necessary to prevent you from committing not 
only similar, but much greater, errors. 

Another object in the producing of these specimens, is 
to convince you that a knowledge of the Latin and Greek 
languages does not prevent men from writing bad English. 
Those languages are, by impostors and their dupes, called 
" the learned languages " ; and those who [that] have paid 
for having studied them are said to have received " a liberal 
education." These appellations are false, and, of course, 
they lead to false conclusions. Learning, as a noun, means 
knowledge, and learned means knowing ox possessed of knowl- 
edge. Learning is, then, to be acquired by conception ; and 
it is shown in judgment, in reasoning, and in the various 
modes of employing it. What, then, can learning have to 
do with any particular tongue ! Good Grammar, for in- 



1 66 SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR, [letter 

stance, written in Welsh, or in the language of the Chip- 
pewa savages, is more /earned than bad Grammar written in 
Greek. The learning is in the mind and not in the tongue : 
learning consists of ideas and not of the noise that is made 
by the mouth. If, for instance, the Reports drawn up by 
the House of Commons, and [omit] which are composi- 
tions discovering in every sentence ignorance the most pro- 
found, were written in Latin, should we then call them 
learned? Should we say that the mere change of the 
words from one tongue into another made that learned 
which [that] was before unlearned? As well may we 
say that a falsehood written in English would have been 
truth if written in Latin ; and as well may we say that a 
certain handwriting is a learned handwriting, or, that cer- 
tain sorts of ink and paper are learned ink and paper, as 
that a language, or tongue, is a learned language, or 
tongue. 

The cause of the use of this false appellation, " learned 
languages," is this, that those who [that] teach them in 
England have, in consequence of their teaching, very large 
estates in house and land y which are public property, but 
which are now used for the sole benefit of those teachers, 
who are, in general, the relations [relatives] or dependents 
of the Aristocracy. In order to give a color of reasonable- 
ness to this species of appropriation, the languages taught 
by the possessors are called " the learned languages " ; and 
[omit] which appellation is, at the same time, intended to 
cause the mass of the people to believe that the professors 
and learners of these languages are, in point of wisdom, far 
superior to other men ; and to establish the opinion that all 
but themselves are unlearned persons. In short, the appel- 
lation, like many others, is a trick which [that] fraud has 
furnished for the purpose of guarding the snug possessors of 



xxi.] OF DRS. JOHNSON AND WATTS. 167 

the property against the consequences of the people's under- 
standing the matter. 

It is curious enough that this appellation of " learned 
languages " is confined to the English nation and the Ameri- 
can, which inherits it from the English. Neither in France, 
in Spain, in Italy, nor in Germany, is this false and absurd 
appellation in use. The same motives have not existed in 
those countries. There the monks and other priests have 
inherited from the founders. They had not any occasion to 
resort to this species of imposition. But in England the 
thing required to be glossed over. There was something or 
other required in that country as an apology for taking 
many millions a year from the public to keep men to do no 
apparently useful thing. 

Seeing themselves unable to maintain the position that 
the Latin and Greek are more " learned languages " than 
others, the impostors and their dupes tell us that this is not 
what they mean. They mean, they say, not that those lan- 
guages are, in themselves, more learned than others ; but 
that, to possess a knowledge of them is a proof that the pos- 
sessor is a learned man. To be sure, they do not offer us 
any argument in support of this assertion ; while it would 
be easy to show that the assertion must, in every case, be 
false. But let it suffice, for this time, that we show that the 
possession of the knowledge of those languages does not 
prevent men from committing numerous grammatical errors 
when they write in their native language. 

I have, for this purpose, fixed upon the writings of Doc- 
tor Johnson and of Doctor Watts ; because, besides its be- 
ing well known that they were deeply skilled in Latin and 
Greek, it would be difficult to find two men with more real 
learning. I take also the two works for which they are re- 
spectively the most celebrated ; the Rambler of Doctor 



168 SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR, [letter 

Johnson,* and the Logic of Doctor Watts.f These are 
works of very great learning. The Rambler, though its 
general tendency is to spread a gloom over life, and to damp 
all enterprise, private as well as public, displays a vast fund 
of knowledge in the science of morals ; and the Logic, 
though the religious zeal of its pious, sincere, and benevo- 
lent author has led him into the very great error of taking 
his examples of self-evident propositions from among 
those, many of which great numbers of men think not to be 
self-evident, is a work wherein profound learning is con- 
veyed in a style the most simple, and in a manner the most 
pleasing. It is impossible to believe that the Logic was 
not revised with great care ; and, as to the Rambler, the 
biographer of its author tells us that the Doctor made six 
thousand corrections and alterations before the work was 
printed in volumes. 

The Rambler is in Numbers : therefore, at the end of 
each extract from it, I shall put the Letter R, and the Num- 
ber, The Logic is divided into Farts and Chapters. At 
the end of each extract from it, I shall put L ; and then add 
the Fart and Chapter. I shall range the extracts under the 
names of the Parts of Speech to which the erroneous words 
respectively belong. 

Articles. 

11 1 invited her to spend the day in viewing a seat and 
gardens" — R. No. 34. 

" For all our speculative acquaintance with things should 

* The first number of the Rambler was published on Tuesday, 
March 20, 1749-' 50, and the last on Saturday the 17th (14th, in fact) 
March, 1752. 

t " Logick : or The Right Use of Reason in the Enquiry after 
Truth." By Dr. Isaac Watts, first published in 1725. 



xxi.] OF DRS. JOHNSON AND WATTS. 169 

be made subservient to our better conduct in the civil and 
religious life." — L. Introduction. 

The indefinite article a can not, you know, be put be- 
fore a plural noun. We can not say a gardens ; but this is, 
in fact, said in the above extract. It should have been " a 
seat and its gardens." " Civil and religious life" are gen- 
eral and indefinite in the second extract. The article, there- 
fore, was unnecessary, and is improperly used. Look back 
at the use of Articles, Letter IV. 

Nouns. 

"Among the innumerable historical authors, who fill 
every nation with accounts of their ancestors or undertake 
to transmit to futurity the events of their own time, the 
greater part, when fashion and novelty have ceased to rec- 
ommend them, are of no other use than chronological me- 
mo? ials, which necessity may sometimes require to be con- 
sulted." — R. No. 122. 

This is all confusion. Whose ancestors ? The nation's 
ancestors are meant : but the author's are expressed. The 
two theirs and the them clearly apply to the same Noun. 
How easily all this confusion would have been avoided by 
considering the nation as a singular, and saying its a?icestors ! 
In the latter part of the sentence, the authors are called 
chronological memorials ; and though we may, in some 
cases, use the word author for author's work ; yet, in a case 
like this, where we are speaking of the authors as actors, 
we can not take such a liberty. 

" Each of these classes of the human race has desires, 
fears, and conversation, peculiar to itself ; cares which 
[that] another can not feel, and pleasures of which he can 
not partake." — R. No. 160. 

The noun of multitude, classes, being preceded by each, 



170 SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR, [letter 

has the pronoun itself, properly put after it ; but the he 
does not correspond with these. It should have been it. 
With regard to these two extracts, see paragraph 181. 

" His great ambition was to shoot flying, and he, there- 
fore, spent whole days in the woods, pursuing game, which, 
before he was near enough to see them, his approach 
frighted away." — R. No. 66. 

Game is not a noun of multitude, like mob, or House of 
Commons. There are different games or pastimes ; but this 
word, as applied to the describing of wild animals, has no 
plural ; and, therefore, can not have a plural pronoun to 
stand for it. 

" The obvious duties of piety toward God and love 
toward man, with the governments of all our inclinations 
and passions." — L. Part 4. 

This plural is so clearly wrong that I need not show 
why it is wrong. 

"And by this mean they will better judge what to 
choose." — L. Part 4. 

Mean, as a noun, is never used in the singular. It, like 
some other words, has broken loose from all principle and 
rule. By universal acquiescence it is become always a plural, 
whether used with singular or plural pronouns and articles 
or not. Doctor Watts, in other instances, says this means. 

1 l Having delayed to buy a coach myself, till I should 
have the lady's opinion, for whose use it was intended." — 
R. No. 34. 

We know that whose relates to lady, according to the 
Doctor's meaning ; but, grammatically, it does not. It re- 
lates to opinion. It should have been, " the opinion of the 
lady for whose use." See Syntax of Nouns, Letter XVI, 
paragraphs 170 and 171. 



xxi.] OF DRS. JOHNSON AND WATTS. 171 

Pronouns. 

" Had the opinion of my censurers been unanimous, it 
might have overset my resolutions ; but, since I find them 
at variance with each other, I can, without scruple, neglect 
them, and follow my own imagination." — R. No. 23. 

You see the Doctor has, in the last member of his sen- 
tence, the censurers in his eye, and he forgets his nomina- 
tive, opinion. It is the opinion that was not unanimous > 
and not the censurers who were not unanimous ; for, they 
were unanimous in censuring. 

" They that frequent the chambers of the sick will gen- 
erally find the sharpest pains, and most stubborn maladies, 
among them who??i [that] confidence in the force of nature 
formerly betrayed to negligence or irregularity ; and that 
superfluity of strength, which was at once their boast and 
their snare, has often, in the end, no other effect than that 
it continues them long in impotence and anguish." — R. 
No. 38. 

The they and the first them ought to [should] be those ; 
the to ought to be into. The two theirs and the last them 
are not absolutely faulty, but they do not clearly enough 
relate to their antecedent. 

" Metissa brought with her an old maid, recommended 
by her mother, who taught her all the arts of domestic man- 
agement, and was, on every occasion, her chief agent and 
directress. They soon invented one reason or other to quar- 
rel with all my servants, and either prevailed on me to turn 
them away, or treated them so ill that they left me of them- 
selves, and always supplied their places with some brought 
from my wife's family." — R. No. 35. 

Here is perfect confusion and pell-mell ! Which of the 
two, the old maid or the ??iother i was it that taught the arts of 



172 SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR, [letter 

domestic management? And which of the two was taught, 
Metissa or the old maid? " They soon invented." Who 
are they ? Are there two, or all the three ? And who sup- 
plied the places of the servants ? The meaning of the words 
clearly is that the servants themselves supplied the places. It 
is very rarely [rare] that we meet with so bad a sentence 
as this. 

" I shall not trouble you with a history of the stratagems 
practiced upon my judgment, or the allurements tried upon 
my heart, which, if you have, in any part of your life, been 
acquainted with rural politics, you will easily conceive. 
Their arts have no great variety, they think nothing worth 
their care but money." — R. No. 35. 

14 Their arts" : but whose arts? There is no antecedent, 
except " rural politics " ; and thus, all this last sentence is 
perfect nonsense. 

" But the fear of not being approved as just copiers of 
human manners is not the most important concern that an 
author of this sort ought to have before him" — R. No. 4. 

An author can not be said to fear not to be approved as 
just copiers. The word author ought to [should] have been 
in the plural, and him ought to have been them* 

" The wit, whose vivacity condemns slower tongues to 
silence ; the scholar, whose knowledge allows no man to 
think he instructs him" — R. No. 188. 

Which of the two is allowed ? The scholar or the no 
man ? Which of the two does he relate to ? Which of the 
two does the him relate to ? By a little reflection we may 
come at the Doctor's meaning ; but, if we may stop to dis- 
cover the grammatical meaning of an author's words, how are 
we to imbibe the science which [that] he would teach us ? 

" The state of the possessor of humble virtues, to the 



xxi.] OF DRS. JOHNSON AND WATTS. 173 

affector of great excellences, is that of a small cottage of 
stone, to the palace raised with ice by the Empress of Rus- 
sia ; it was, for a time, splendid and luminous, but the first 
sunshine melted it to nothing." — R. No. 22. 

Which, instead of it, would have made clear that which 
[that] is now dubious, for it may relate to cottage as well as 
to palace ; or it may relate to state. 

" The love of retirement has, in all ages, adhered closely 
to those minds which [that] have been most enlarged by 
knowledge, or elevated by genius. Those who [that] en- 
joyed everything generally supposed to confer happiness, 
have been forced to seek it in the shades of privacy." — R. 
No. 7. 

To seek what ? The love of retirement, or everything ? 
The Doctor means happiness, but his words do not mean it. 

" Yet there is a certain race of men that make it their 
duty to hinder the reception of every work of learning or 
genius, who [ ; that] stand as sentinels in the avenues of 
fame, and value themselves upon giving ignorance and envy 
the first notice of a prey." — R. No. 3. 

That, or who, may, as we have seen, be the relative of 
a noun, which [that] is the name of a rational being or 
beings ; but both can not be used, applicable to the same 
noun in the same sentence. Nor is " a prey" proper. Prey 
has no plural. It is like fat, meat, grease, garbage, and many 
other words of that description. 

" For, among all the animals upon which nature has im- 
pressed deformity and horror, there was none whom [that] 
he durst not encounter rather than a beetle." — R. No. 126. 

Here are whom and which used as the relatives to the 
same noun ; and, besides, we know that whom can, in no 
case, be a relative to irrational creatures, and, in this case, 



174 SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR, [letter 

the author is speaking of such creatures only. " Horror" is 
not a thing that can be impressed upon another thing so as to 
be seen. Horror is a feeling of the mind ; for, though we 
say " horror was visible on his countenance" we clearly mean 
that the outward signs of horror were visible. We can not 
see horror as we can deformity. It should have been " de- 
formity and hideousness" 

" To cull from the mass of mankind those individuals 
upon which the attention ought to be most employed." — 
R. No. 4. 

The antecedent belongs to rational beings, and, there- 
fore, the which should have been whom. 

" This determination led me to Metissa, the daughter of 
Chrisophilus, whose person was at least without deformity." 
— R. No. 35. 

The person of which of the two ? Not of the old Papa, 
to be sure ; and yet this is what the words mean. 

[Not so. The antecedent is clearly Metissa.~\ 

" To persuade them who [that] are entering the world, 
that all are equally vicious, is not to awaken judgment." — 
R. No. 119. 

Those persons, who [that] are entering the world, and 
not any particular persons of whom we have already been 
speaking. We can not say them persons j and, therefore, 
this sentence is incorrect. 

" Of these pretenders it is fit to distinguish those who 
[that] endeavor to deceive from them who [that] are de- 
ceived." — R. No. 189. 

" I have, therefore, given a place to what may not be use- 
less to them whose chief ambition is to please." — R. No. 34. 

The thems in these two sentences should be those. But, 
them who are deceived has another sort of error attached to 



xxi.] OF DRS, JOHNSON AND WATTS. 175 

it, for the who, remember, is not, of itself, a notninative. 
The antecedent, as you have seen, must be taken into view, 
This antecedent, must be, the persons, understood ; and then 
we have them persons are deceived, 

" Reason, as to the power and principles of it, is the 
common gift of God to man." — L. Introduction. 

The it may relate to power as well as to reason. There- 
fore, it would have been better to say, " Reason, as to its 
power and principles " : for if clearness is always necessary, 
how necessary must it be in the teaching of logic ! 

" All the prudence that any man exerts in his common 
concerns of life." — L. Introduction. 

Any man means, here, the same as men in general, and 
the concerns mean the concerns common to men in gen- 
eral ; and therefore the article the should have been used 
instead of the pronoun his, 

" It gives pain to the mind and memory, and exposes the 
unskillful hearer to mingle the superior and inferior particu- 
lars together ; it leads them into a thick wood instead of 
open daylight, and places them in a labyrinth instead of a 
plain path." — L. Part 4, Chap. 2. 

The Grammar is clearly bad ; and the rhetoric is not 
quite free from fault. Labyrinth is the opposite of plain 
path, but open daylight is not the opposite of a thick wood. 
Open plain would have been better than open daylight ; for 
open daylight may exist along with a thick wood. 

Verbs. 
" There are many things which [that] we every day see 
others unable to perform, and, perhaps, have even miscar- 
ried ourselves in attempting ; and yet can hardly allow to 
be difficult." — R. No. 122. 



176 SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR, [letter 

This sentence has in it one of the greatest of faults. 
The nominative case of can allow is not clear to us. This 
is a manner too elliptical, " We can hardly allow them" is 
what was meant. 

" A man's eagerness to do that good, to which he is not 
called, will betray him into crimes." — R. No. 8. 

The man is not called to the good, but to do the good. 
It is not my business, at this time, to criticise the opinions 
of Doctor Johnson ; but, I can not refrain from just remark- 
ing upon this sentence, that it contains the sum total of pas- 
sive obedience and non-resistance. It condemns all disinter- 
ested zeal and everything worthy of the name of patriotism. 

" We are not compelled to toil through half a folio to 
be convinced that the author has broke his promise." — R. 
No. 1. 

" The Muses, when they sung before the throne of Ju- 
piter." — R. No. 3. 

In the first of these, the passed time is used where the 
passive participle ought to have been used ; and in the sec- 
ond, the passive participle is used in the place of the passed 
time. Broken and sang were the proper words. 

" My purpose was, after ten months more spent in com- 
merce, to have withdrawn my wealth to a safer country." — 
R. No. 120. 

The purpose was present, and therefore it was his pur- 
pose to withdraw his wealth. 

" A man may, by great attention, persuade others that 
he really has the qualities that he presumes to boast ; but 
the hour will come when he should exert them, and then 
whatever he enjoyed in praise, he must suffer in reproach? — 
R. No. 20. 

Here is a complete confounding of times. Instead of 



xxi.] OF DRS. JOHNSON AND WATTS. 177 

should, it should be ought to ; and instead of enjoyed, it 
should be may have enjoyed. The sense is bad, too ; for how 
can a man suffer in reproach what he has enjoyed in praise? 

"He had taught himself to think riches more valuable 
than nature designed t/iem, and to expect from them. ..." 
— R. No. 20. 

" I could prudently adventtire an inseparable union." — 
R. No. 119. 

" I propose to endeavor the entertainment of my country- 
men." — R. No. 1. 

" He may, by attending the remarks, which [that] every 
paper will produce." — R. No. I. 

In each of these four sentences, a neuter verb has the 
powers of an active verb given to it. " Designed them to 
be; adventure on; endeavor to etitertain ; attending to." 
To design a thing is to draw it ; to attend a thing is to wait 
on it. No case occurs to me, at present, wherein adventtire 
and endeavor can be active verbs ; but, at any rate, they 
ought not to have assumed the active office here. 

"f was not condemned in my youth to solitude, either 
by indigence or deformity, nor passed the earlier part of life 
without the flattery of courtship." — R. No. 119. 

The verb can not change from a netiter to an active with- 
out a repetition of the nominative. It should have been, 
nor did I pass ; or, nor passed I. 

" Anthea was content to call a coach, and crossed the 
brook." — R. No. 34. 

It should be " she crossed the brook." 

" He will be welcomed with ardor, unless he destroys 
those recommendations by his faults." — R. No. 160. 

" If he thinks his own judgment not sufficiently en- 
lightened, he may rectify his opinions." — R. No. 1. 



178 SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR, [letter 

"Ifhefnds, with all his industry, and all his artifices, 
that he can not deserve regard, or can not obtain it, he may 
let the design fall." — R. No. 1. 

The subjunctive mode ought to be used in all these three 
sentences. In the first, the meaning is, " unless he should 
destroy." In the two last, the Doctor is speaking of his 
own undertaking : and, he means, " the author, if he should 
think, if he should find ; may then rectify his opinions ; may 
then let fall his design." He therefore should have written, 
" if he think; if hefnd." 

" Follow solid argument wherever it leads you." — L. 
Part 3. 

Wherever it may lead you, shall lead you, is meant ; 
and, therefore, the subjunctive mode was necessary. It 
should have been, * ' wherever it lead you." 

" See, therefore, that your general definitions, or de- 
scriptions, are as accurate as the nature of the thing will 
bear ; see that your general divisions and distributions be 
just and exact ; see that your axioms be sufficiently evi- 
dent ; see that your principles be well drawn." — L. Part 4. 

All these members are correct, except the first, where 
the verb is put in the indicative mode instead of the sub- 
junctive. All the four have the same turn ; they are all in 
the same mode, or manner ; they should, therefore, all have 
had the verb in the same form. They all required the sub- 
junctive form. 

Participles. 

11 Or, it is the drawing a conclusion, which [that] was 
before either unknown, or dark." — L. Introduction. 

It should be "the drawing of a conclusion " ; for, in 
this case, the active participle becomes a noun. '* The act 
of drawing " is meant, and clearly understood ; and we 



xxi.] OF DRS. JOHNSON AND WATTS. 179 

can not say, " the act drawing a conclusion." When the 
article comes before, there must be the preposition after 
the participle. To omit the preposition in such cases is an 
error very common, and therefore I have noticed the error 
in this instance, in order to put you on your guard. 

Adverbs. 

"For thoughts are only criminal when they are first 
chosen, and then voluntarily continued" — R. No. 8. 

The station, or place, of the adverb is a great matter. 
The Doctor does not mean here that which [that, better : 
what] his words mean. He means that " thoughts are 
criminal, only when they are first chosen and then volun- 
tarily continued." As the words stand, they mean that 
"thoughts are nothing else, or nothing more, than criminal," 
in the case supposed. But here are other words not very 
properly used. I should like to be informed how a thought 
can be chosen ; how that is possible : and also how we can 
continue a thought, or how we can discontinue a thought at 
our will. The science here is so very profound that we 
can not see the bottom of it. Swift says : " Whatever is 
dark is deep. Stir a puddle, and it is deeper than a well." 
Doctor Johnson deals too much in this kind of profundity. 

" I have heard how some critics have been pacified with 
claret and a supper, and others laid asleep with the soft 
notes of flattery." — R. No. 1. 

How means the manner in which : as, " How do you 
do?" That is, "In what manner do you carry yourself 
on ? " But the Doctor tells us here, in other words, the 
precise manner in which the critics were pacified. The 
how, therefore, should have been that. 

" I hope not much to tire those whom [that] I shall not 
happen to please." — R. No. 1. 



180 SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR, [letter 

He did not mean that he did not much hope, but that 
he hoped not to tire much. " I hope I shall not much tire 
those whom [that] I may not happen to please." This was 
what he meant ; but he does not say it. 

" And it is a good judgment alone [only ?] can dictate 
how far to proceed in it and when to stop." — L. Part 4. 

Doctor Watts is speaking here of writing. In such a 
case an adverb, like how far, expressive of longitudinal 
space, introduces a rhetorical figure ; for the plain mean- 
ing is, that judgment will dictate how much to write on it, 
and not how far to proceed in it. The figure, however, is 
very proper, and much better than the literal words. But 
when a figure is begtm it should be carried on throughout, 
which is not the case here ; for the Doctor begins with a 
figure of longitudinal space, and ends with a figure of time. 
It should have been " where to stop." Or, " how long to 
proceed in it and when to stop." To tell a man how far 
he is to go into the Western countries of America, and 
when he is to stop, is a very different thing from telling him 
how far he is to go and where he is to stop. I have dwelt 
thus on this distinction, for the purpose of putting you on 
the watch, and guarding you against confounding figures. 
The less you use them the better, till you understand more 
about them. 

" In searching out matters of fact in times past or in 
distant places, in which case moral evidence is sufficient, 
and moral certainty is the utmost that can be attained, here 
w r e derive a greater assurance of the truth of it by a num- 
cer of persons, or multitude of circumstances concurring to 
bear witness to it." — L. Part 3. 

The adverb here is wholly unnecessary, and it does 
harm. But what shall we say of the of it, and the to it? 



xxi.] OF DRS. JOHNSON AND WATTS. 181 

What is the antecedent of the it ? Is matters of fact the 
antecedent ? Then them, and not it, should have been the 
pronoun. Is evidence the antecedent ? Then we have cir- 
cumstances bearing witness to evidence! Is certainty the 
antecedent ? Then we have the truth of certainty ! Mind, 
my dear James, this sentence is taken from a treatise on 
logic ! How necessary is it, then, for you to be careful in 
the use of this powerful little word it! 

Prepositions. 

" And, as this practice is a commodious subject of rail- 
lery to the gay, and of declamation to the serious, it has 
been ridiculed. . . ." — R. No. 123. 

With the gay ; for to the gay means that the raillery is 
addressed to the gay, which was not the author's meaning. 

4< When I was deliberating to what new qualifications I 
should aspire." — R. No. 123. 

With regard to it, it ought to have been ; for we can 
not deliberate a thing nor to a thing. 

" If I am not commended for the beauty of my works, 
I may hope to be pardoned for their brevity." — R. No. 1. 

We may commend him for the beauty of his works ; 
and we may pardon him for their brevity, if we deem the 
brevity a fault ; but this is not what he means. He means 
that, at any rate, he shall have the merit of brevity. " If I 
am not commended for the beauty of my works, I may hope 
to be pardoned on account of their brevity." This is what 
the Doctor meant ; but this would have marred a little the 
antithesis : it would have unsettled a little of the balance 
of that seesaw in which Dr. Johnson so much delighted, 
and which [that], falling into the hands of novel-writers 
and of Members of Parliament, has, by moving unencum- 



1 82 SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR, [letter 

bered with any of the Doctor's reason or sense, lulled so many 
thousands asleep ! Dr. Johnson created a race of writers 
and speakers. " Mr. Speaker, that the state of the nation 
is very critical, all men must allow ; but, that it is wholly 
desperate, few men will believe." When you hear or see 
a sentence like this, be sure that the person who [that] 
speaks or writes it has been reading Dr. Johnson, or some 
of his imitators. But, observe, these imitators go no fur- 
ther than the frame of the sentences. They, in general, 
take special care not to imitate the Doctor in knowledge 
and reasoning. 

I have now lying on the table before me forty-eight 
errors in the use or omission of Prepositions by Doctor 
Watts. I will notice but two of them ; the first is an error 
of commission, the second of omission : 

" When we would prove the importance of any scrip- 
tural doctrine or duty, the multitude of texts wherein it is 
repeated and inculcated upon the reader, seems naturally to 
instruct us that it is a matter of greater importance than 
other things which [that] are but slightly or singly men- 
tioned in the Bible." — L. Part 3. 

The words repeated and inculcated both apply to upon ; 
but we can not repeat a thing upon a reader, and the words 
here used mean this. When several verbs or participles 
are joined together by a copulative conjunction, care must 
be taken that the act described by each verb, or participle, 
be such as can be performed by the agent, and per- 
formed, too, in the manner, or for the purpose, or on the 
object, designated by the other words of the sentence. 

The other instance of error in the use of the Prepo- 
sition occurs in the very first sentence in the Treatise on 
Logic : 



xxi.] OF DRS. JOHNSON AND WATTS. 183 

" Logic is the art of using reason well in our inquiries 
after truth, and the communication of it to others." — L. 
Introduction. 

The meaning of the words is this : that "Logic is the 
art of using reason well in our inquiries after truth, and is 
also the communication of it to others." To be sure we do 
understand that it means that u Logic is the art of using 
reason well in our inquiries after truth, and in the com- 
munication of it to others " ; but, surely, in a case like this, 
no room for doubt, or for hesitation, ought to [should] 
have been left. Nor is "using reason well" a well-chosen 
phrase. It may mean treating it well: not ill-treating \t. 
" Using reason properly, or employing reason well," would 
have been better. For, observe, Doctor Watts is here giv- 
ing a definition of the thing of which he was about to treat : 
and he is speaking to persons unacquainted with that thing : 
for as to those acquainted with it, no definition was wanted. 
Clearness, everywhere desirable, was here absolutely neces- 
sary. 

Conjunctions. 

11 As, notwithstanding all that wit, or malice, or pride, 
or prudence, will be able to suggest, men and women 
must, at last, pass their lives together, I have never, there- 
fore, thought those writers friends to human happiness who 
[that] endeavor to excite in either sex a general contempt 
or suspicion of the other." — R. No. 149. 

The as is unnecessary ; or the therefore is unnecessary. 

11 But the happy historian has no other labor than of gath- 
ering what tradition pours down before him." — R. No. 122. 

" Some have advanced, without due attention to the 
consequences of this notion, that certain virtues have their 
correspondent faults, and therefore to exhibit either apart 
is to deviate from probability." — R. No. 4. 



1 84 SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR, [letter 

" But if the power of example is so great as take pos- 
session of the memory by a kind of violence, care ought to 
be taken that, when the choice is unrestrained, the best 
examples only should be exhibited ; and that which [that] 
is likely to operate so strongly should not be mischievous or 
uncertain in its effects." — R. No. 4. 

It should have been, in the first of these extracts, " than 
that of gathering " ; in the second, " and that therefore " ; in 
the third, " and that that which [that] is likely." If the 
Doctor wished to avoid putting two thats close together, he 
should have chosen another form for his sentence. The 
that which is a relative, and the conjunction that was re- 
quired to go before it. 

[The that is a demonstrative, and the which is a relative. 
The clause, with the ellipsis supplied, is: "And that that 
thing which (properly, that) is likely."] 

" It is, therefore, an [a] useful thing when we have a 
fundamental truth, we use the synthetic method to explain 
it."— L. Part 4. 

It should have been that we use. 

Wrong Placing of Words. 
Of all the faults to be found in writing, this is one of 
the most common, and perhaps it leads to the greatest num- 
ber of misconceptions. All the words may be the proper 
words to be used upon the occasion ; and yet, by a misplac- 
ing of a part of them, the meaning may be wholly destroyed ; 
and even made to be the contrary of what it ought to be. 

" I asked the question with no other intention than to set 
the gentleman free from the necessity of silence, and give 
him an opportunity of mingling [to mingle ?] on equal terms 
with a polite assembly, from which, however uneasy, he 



xxi.] OF DRS. JOHNSON AND WATTS. 185 

could not then escape by a kind introduction of the only sub- 
ject on which I believed him to be able to speak with pro- 
priety." — R. No. 126. 

This is a very bad sentence altogether. " However un- 
easy" applies to assembly ', and not to gejitleman. Only ob- 
serve how easily this might have been avoided. " From 
which he y however uneasy, could not then escape." After 
this we have ' ■ he could not then escape, by a kind introduc- 
tion!' We know what is meant ; but the Doctor, with all 
his commas, leaves the sentence confused. Let us see 
whether we can not make it clear. " I asked the question 
with no other intention than, by a kind introduction of the 
only subject on which I believed him to be able to speak 
with propriety, to set the gentleman free from the necessity 
of silence, and to give him an opportunity of mingling on 
equal terms with a polite assembly, from which he, however 
uneasy, could not then escape." 

" Reason is the glory of human nature, and one of the 
chief eminences whereby we are raised above our fellow- 
creatures, the brutes, in this lower world." — L. Introduc- 
tion. 

I have before showed an error in the first sentence of 
Doctor Watts's w T ork. This is the second sentence. The 
words, " in this lower world" are not words misplaced only ; 
they are wholly unnecessary, and they do great harm ; for 
they do these two things : first, they imply that there are 
brutes in the higher world ; and, second, they excite a doubt, 
whether we are raised above those brutes. 

I might, my dear James, greatly extend the number of 
my extracts from both these authors ; but here, I trust, are 
enough. I had noted down about two hundred errors in 
Doctor Johnson's Lives of the Poets ; but afterward per- 
ceiving that he had revised and corrected the Rambler with 



1 86 SPECIMENS OF FALSE GRAMMAR, [letter 

extraordinary care, I chose to make my extracts from that 
work rather than from the Lives of the Poets. 

Double-negative and Ellipsis. 

Before I dismiss the specimens of bad Grammar, I will 
just take, from Tull, a sentence which [that] contains strik- 
ing instances of the misapplication of Negatives, and of the 
Ellipsis. In our language two negatives applied to the same 
verb, or to the same words of any sort, amount to an affirm- 
ative : as, " Do not give him none of your money." That 
is to say, " Give him some of your money," though the con- 
trary is meant. It should be, " Do not give him any of your 
money." Errors, as to this matter, occur most frequently 
when the sentence is formed in such a manner as to lead 
the writer out of sight and out of sound of the first negative 
before he comes to the point where he thinks a second is re- 
quired : as, " Neither Richard nor Peter, as I have been in- 
formed, and indeed as it has been proved to me, never gave 
James authority to write to me." You see it ought to be 
ever. But in this case, as in most others, there requires 
nothing more than a little thought. You see clearly that 
two negatives, applied to the same verb, destroy the nega- 
tive effect of each other. " I will not never write." This 
is the contrary of " I will never write." 

The Ellipsis, of which I spoke in Letter XIX, paragraph 
227, ought to be used with great care. Read that paragraph 
again ; and then attend to the following sentence of Mr. 
Tull, which I select in order to show you that very fine 
thoughts may be greatly marred by a too free use of the El- 
lipsis. 

44 It is strange that no author should never have written 
fully of the fabric of plows ! Men of greatest learning 
have spent their time in contriving instruments to measure 



xxil] ERRORS IN A KINGS SPEECH. 187 

the immense distance of the stars, and in finding out the 
dimensions and even weight of the planets. They think it 
more eligible to study the art of plowing the sea with 
ships than of tilling the land with plows. They bestow 
the utmost of their skill, learnedly to pervert the natural use 
of all the elements for destruction of their own species by 
the bloody art of war : and some waste their whole lives in 
studying how to arm death with new engines of horror, and 
inventing an infinite variety of slaughter ; but think it be- 
neath men of learning (who only are capable of doing it) 
to employ their learned labors in the invention of new, or 
even improving the old, instruments for increasing of bread.'' 
You see the never ought to be ever. You see that the 
the is left out before the word greatest, and again before 
weight, and, in this last-mentioned instance, the leaving of 
it out makes the words mean the * ' even weight " ; that is to 
say, not the odd weight ; instead of " even the weight," as 
the author meant. The conjunction that is left out before 
"of tilling'* ; before destruction, the article the is again 
omitted ; in is left out before inventing, and also before im- 
proving ; and, at the close, the is left out before increasing. 
To see so fine a sentence marred in this way is, I hope, quite 
enough to guard you against the frequent commission of 
similar errors. 



LETTER XXII. 

ERRORS AND NONSENSE IN A KING\<5 SPEECH. 

My dear James: 

In my first Letter I observed to you that to the func- 
tions of Statesmen and Legislators was [is] due the highest 
respect which [that] could [can] be shown by man to any 



1 88 ERRORS AND NONSENSE [letter 

thing human ; but I, at the same time, observed that, as 
the degree and quality of our respect rose [rise] in propor- 
tion to the influence which [that] the different branches 
of knowledge naturally had [have] in the affairs and on 
the conditions of men, so, in cases of imperfection in 
knowledge, or of negligence in the application of it, or 
of its perversion to bad purposes, all the feelings op- 
posite to that of respect, rose [rise] in the same propor- 
tion ; and to one of these cases I have now to direct your 
attention. 

[What is true at all times should always be expressed 
in the present tense.] 

The Speeches of the King are read by him to the Par- 
liament. They are composed by his Ministers, or select 
Councilors. They are documents of great importance, 
treating of none but weighty matters ; they are always 
styled Most Gracious, and are heard and answered with the 
most profound respect. 

The persons who [that] settle upon what shall be the 
topics of these Speeches, and who [that] draw the Speeches 
up, are, a Lord High Chancellor, a First Lord of the 
Treasury, a Lord President of the Council, three Secre- 
taries of State, a First Lord of the Admiralty, a Master 
General of the Ordnance, a Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
and perhaps one or two besides. These persons are called, 
when spoken of in a body, the Ministry. They are alj 
Members of the King's constitutional Council, called the 
Privy Council, without whose assent the King can issue no 
proclamation nor any order affecting the people. This 
Council, Judge Blackstone, taking the words of Coke, calls 
"a noble, honorable, and reverend assembly." So that, in 
the Ministry, who are selected from the persons who [that] 
compose this assembly, the nation has a right to expect 



xxn.] IN A KING'S SPEECH. 189 

something very near to perfection in point of judgment and 
of practical talent. 

How destitute of judgment and of practical talent these 
persons have been, in the capacity of Statesmen and of 
Legislators, the present miserable and perilous state of 
England amply demonstrates ; and I am now about to show 
you that they are equally destitute in the capacity of writ- 
ers. There is some poet who [that] says : 

M Of all the arts in which the learned excel, 
The first in rank is that of writing well" * 

And though a man may possess great knowledge, as a 
Statesman and as a Legislator, without being able to per- 
form what this poet would call writing well ; yet, surely, 
we have a right to expect in a Minister the capacity of 
being able to write grammatically ; the capacity of putting 
his own meaning clearly down upon paper. But, in the 
composing of a King's Speech it is not one man, but nine 
men, whose judgment and practical talent are employed. 
A King's Speech is, too, a very short piece of writing. The 
topics are all distinct. Very little is said upon each. 
There is no reasoning. It is all plain matter of fact, or of 
simple observation. The thing is done with all the advan- 
tages of abundant time for examination and re-examina- 
tion. Each of the Ministers has a copy of the Speech to 
read, to examine, and to observe upon ; and when no one 
has anything left to suggest in the way of alteration or im- 
provement, the Speech is agreed to, and put into the mouth 
of the King. 

Surely, therefore, if in any human effort perfection can 

* This quotation should run : 

" Of all those arts in which the wise excel, 
Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well." 

Sheffield. Essay of Poetry. 



190 ERRORS AND NONSENSE [letter 

be expected, we have a right to expect it in a King's Speech. 
You shall now see, then, what pretty stuff is put together, 
and delivered to the Parliament, under the name of King's 
Speeches. 

The Speech which [that] I am about to examine is, in- 
deed, a Speech of the Regent ; * but I might take any 
other of these Speeches. I chose this particular speech 
because the subjects of it are familiar in America as well as 
in England. It was spoken on the 8th of November, 18 14. 
I shall take a sentence at a time, in order to avoid con- 
fusion : 

" My Lords and Gentlemen, It is with deep regret that 
/ am again obliged to announce the continuance of his Ma- 
jesty's lamented indisposition." 

Even in this short sentence there is something equiv- 
ocal; for it may be that the Prince's regret arises from his 
being obliged to announce, and not from the thing an- 
nounced. If he had said, " With deep regret I announce," 
or, " I announce with deep regret," there would have been 
nothing equivocal. And, in a composition like this, all 
ought to be as clear as the pebbled brook. 

" It would have given me great satisfaction to have been 
enabled to communicate to you the termination of the war 
between this country and the United States of America." 

The double compound times of the verbs, in the first 
part of the sentence, make the words mean that it would, 
before the Pi ince came to the House \ have given him great 
satisfaction to be enabled to communicate ; whereas he 
meant, " It would now have given me great satisfaction to 
be enabled to communicate." In the latter part of the sen- 

* George Frederick, afterward George IV, eldest son of George III 
and Queen Charlotte. He was appointed regent, in consequence of his 
father's mental incapacity, in 181 1. 



xxii.] IN A KING'S SPEECH, 191 

tence we have a little nonsense. What does termination 
mean ? It means, in this case, end or conclusion ; and 
thus the Prince wished to co??imunicate an end to the wise 
men by whom he was surrounded ? To communicate is to 
impart to another anything we have in our possession or 
within our power. And so, the Prince wished to impart 
the end to the Noble Lords and Honorable Gentlemen. 
He might wish to impart, or communicate the news, or the 
intelligence of the end ; but he could not communicate the 
end itself. What should we say, if some one were to tell 
us, that an officer had arrived, and brought home the ter- 
mination of a battle and carried it to Carlton House and 
communicated it to the Prince ? We should laugh at our 
informant's ignorance of Grammar, though we should un- 
derstand what he meant. And shall we, then, be so par- 
tial and so unjust as to reverence in Kings' Councilors 
that which [4kat] we should laugh at in one of our neigh- 
bors ? To act thus would be, my dear Son, a base aban- 
donment of our reason, which is, to use the words of Dr. 
Watts, the common gift of God to man. 

" Although this war originated in the most unprovoked 
aggression on the part of the Government of the United 
States, and was calculated to promote the designs of the 
common enemy of Europe against the rights and inde- 
pendence of all other nations, I never have ceased to enter- 
tain a sincere desire to bring it to a conclusion on just and 
lionorable terms." 

The the most would lead us to suppose that there had 
been more than one aggression, and that the war originated 
in the most unprovoked of them; whereas the Prince's 
meaning was that the aggression was an unprovoked one, 
unprovoked in the superlative degree ; and that, therefore, 
it was a most unprovoked aggression. The words all other 



192 ERRORS AND NONSENSE [letter 

nations may mean all nations except England ; or, all 
nations out of Europe ; or, all nations other than the 
United States ; or, all nations except the enemy's own 
nation. Guess you which of these is the meaning : I confess 
that I am wholly unable to determine the question. But, 
what does the close of the sentence mean when taken into 
view with the although at the beginning ? Does the Prince 
mean that he would be justified in wanting to make peace 
on unjust and dishonorable terms because the enemy had 
been the aggressor? He might, indeed, wish to make it on 
terms dishonorable, and even disgraceful, to the enemy : 
but could he possibly wish to make it on unjust terms? 
Does he mean that an aggression, however wicked and un- 
provoked, would give him a right to do injustice? Yet, if 
he do not mean this, what does he mean ? Perhaps (for 
there is no certainty) he may mean that he wishes to bring 
the war to a conclusion as soon as he can get just and 
honorable terms from the enemy : but, then, what is he to 
do with the although ? Let us try this. " I am ready," say 
you, " to make peace, if you will give me just terms, al- 
though you are the aggressor." To be sure you are, whether 
I be the aggressor or not ! All that you can possibly have 
the face to ask of me is justice ; and, therefore, why do 
you connect your wish for peace with this although ? 
Either you mean that my aggression gives you a right to 
demand of me more than justice, or you talk nonsense. 
Nor must we overlook the word " gov eminent" which 
[that] is introduced here. In the sentence before, the 
Prince wished to communicate the end of the war between 
" this country and the United States " ; but in this sentence 
we are at war with " the Government of the United States." 
This was a poor trick of sophistry, and as such we will let 
it pass, with only observing that such low trickery is not 



xxii.] IN A KING'S SPEECH. 193 

very becoming in men selected from " a noble ', honorable \ 
and reverend Assembly." 

" I. am still engaged in negotiations for this purpose." 
That is, the purpose of bringing the war to a conclu- 
sion. A very good purpose ; but why still? He had not 
told his nobles and his boroughmen that he had been en- 
gaged in negotiations. Even this short, simple sentence 
could not be made without fault. 

" The success of them must, however, depend on my 
disposition being met with corresponding sentiments on the 
part of the enemy." 

Now suppose I were to say, " My wagon was met with 
Mr. Tredwell's coach." Would you not think that some- 
body had met the wagon and coach both going together 
the same way ? To be sure you would. But if I were to say, 
" My wagon was met by Mr. Tredwell's coach," you would 
think that they had approached each other from different 
spots. And, therefore, the Prince should have said, " met 
by" This sentence, however, short as it happily is, is too 
long to be content with one error. Disposition, in this 
sense of the word, means state, or bent, or temper, of mind : 
and the word sentiments means thoughts, or opinions. So, 
here we have a temper of mind met by thoughts. Thoughts 
may correspond or agree with a temper of mind ; but how 
are they to meet it? If the Prince had said, " My dispo- 
sition being met by a corresponding disposition on the part 
of the enemy," he would have uttered plain and dignified 
language. 

" The operations of his Majesty's forces by sea and land 
in the Chesapeake, in the course of the present year, have 
been attended with most brilliant and successful results." 

Were there only the bad placing of the different mem- 
13 



194 EfifiOXS AND NONSENSE [letter 

bers of this sentence, the fault would be sufficient. But we 
do not know whether the Prince means operations by sea and 
land, or forces by sea and land, 

" The flotilla of the enemy in the Patuxent has been de- 
stroyed. The signal defeat of their land forces enabled a 
detachment of his Majesty's army to take possession of the 
city of Washington ; and the spirit of enterprise which 
[that] has characterized all the movements in that quarter, 
has produced on the inhabitants a deep and sensible impres- 
sion of the calamities of a war in which they have been so 
wantonly involved." 

Enemy is not a noun of multitude, like gang, or House 
of Commons ■, or den of thieves ; and, therefore, when used 
in the singular, must have singular pronouns and verbs to 
agree with it. Their, in the second of these sentences, 
should have been his, A sensible impression is an impres- 
sion felt ; a deep impression is one more felt. Therefore it 
was " a sensible and deep impression." But, indeed, sensi- 
ble had no business there ; for, an impression that is deep 
must be sensible. What would you think of a man who 
[that] should say, " I have not only been stabbed, but my 
skin has been cut ! " Why, you would think, to be sure, that 
he must be a man selected from the noble, honorable, and 
reverend assembly at Whitehall. 

" The expedition directed from Halifax to the Northern 
coast of the United States has terminated in a manner not 
less satisfactory^ 

Than what? The Prince has told us, before this, of 
nothing that has terminated satisfactorily. He has talked 
of a brilliant result, and of an impression made on the in- 
habitants ; but of no termination has he talked ; nor has he 
said a word about satisfaction. We must always take care 



xxii.] ; IN A KING'S SPEECH. 195 

how we use, in one sentence, words which [that] refer to 
anything said in former sentences. 

" The successful course of this operation has been fol- 
lowed by the immediate submission of the extensive and im- 
portant district east of the Penobscot river to his Majesty's 
arms." 

This sentence is a disgrace even to a Ministry with a 
Jenkinson at its head.* What do they mean by a course 
being followed by a submission ? And then, " has been fol- 
lowed by the i?nmediate submission " ? One would think 
that some French emigrant priest was employed to write 
this Speech. He, indeed, would say, " a ete suivie par la 
soumission immediate." But when we make use of any 
word, like immediate, which carries us back to the time and 
scene of action, we must use the past time of the verb, and 
say, " was followed by the immediate submission." That is 
to say, was then followed by the then immediate ; and not 
has now been followed by the then immediate submission. 
The close of this sentence exhibits a fine instance of want 
of skill in the placing of the parts of a sentence. Could 
these noble and reverend persons find no place but the end 
for " to his Majesty's arms " ? There was, but they could 
not see it, a place made on purpose, after the word sub- 
mission. 

It is unnecessary, my dear James, for me to proceed fur- 
ther with an exposure of the bad Grammar and the non- 
sense of this Speech. There is not, in the whole Speech, 
one single sentence that is free from error. Nor will you 
be at all surprised at this, if ever you should hear those per- 
sons uttering their ozvn speeches in those places which [that], 
when you were a naughty little boy, you used to call the 

* Charles Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool, born 1790, died 1828. This 
was the famous statesman that held the premiership from 1812 till 1827. 



196 SENTENCES AND FIGURES, [letter 

*' Thieves' Houses." If you should ever hear them there, 
stammering and repeating and putting forth their nonsense, 
your wonder will be, not that they wrote a King's Speech 
so badly, but that they contrived to put upon paper sen- 
tences sufficiently grammatical to enable us to guess at the 
meaning. 



LETTER XXIII. 

on putting sentences together, and on figurative 
language. 

My dear James : 

I have now done with the subject of Grammar, which, 
as you know, teaches us to use words in a proper manner. 
But though you now, I hope, understand how to avoid error 
in the forming of sentences, I think it right not to conclude 
my instructions without saying a few words upon the sub- 
ject of adding sentence to sentence, and on the subject of 
figurative language. 

Language is made use of for one of three purposes: 
namely, to inform, to convince, or to persuade. The first, 
requiring merely the talent of telling what we know, is a 
matter of little difficulty. The second demands reasoning. 
The third, besides reasoning, demands all the aid that we 
can obtain from the use of figures of speech, or, as they are 
sometimes called, figures of rhetoric, which last word means 
the power of persuasion. 

Whatever may be the purpose for which we use lan- 
guage, it seldom can happen that we do not stand in need 
of more than one sentence ; and, therefore, others must be 
added. There is no precise rule, there can be no precise 
rule, with regard to the manner of doing this. When we 



xxiii.] SENTENCES AND FIGURES, 197 

have said one thing, we must add another ; and so on, until 
we have said all that we have to say. But we ought to take 
care, and great care, that if any words in a sentence relate, 
in any way, to words that have gone before, we make these 
words correspond grammatically with those foregoing words ; 
an instance of the want of which care you have seen in 
Paragraph 178. 

The order of the matter will be, in almost all cases, that 
of your thoughts. Sit down to write what you have thought, 
and not to think what you shall write. Use the first words 
that occur to you, and never attempt to alter a thought ; 
for that which [that] has come of itself into your mind is 
likely to pass into that of another more readily and with 
more effect than anything which [that] you can, by reflec- 
tion, invent. 

Never stop to make choice of words. Put down your 
thought in words just as they come. Follow the order 
which [that] your thought will point out : and it will push 
you on to get it upon the paper as quickly and as clearly as 
possible. 

[Herein Cobbett judges others too much by himself. 
Those whose diction is best are, for the most part, laborious 
writers. Lord Brougham, it is said, not unfrequently re- 
wrote his paragraphs several times. Those that are com- 
pelled to write rapidly seldom write really well.] 

Thoughts come much faster than we can put them upon 
paper. They produce one another : and this order of their 
coming is, in almost every case, the best possible order that 
they can have on paper ; yet, if you have several in your 
mind, rising above each other [one another] in point of 
force, the most forcible will naturally come the last upon 
paper. 

Mr. Lindley Murray gives rules about long sentences 



198 SENTENCES AND FIGURES, [letter 

and short sentences, and about a due mixture of long and 
short ; and, he also gives rules about the letters that sen- 
tences should begin with, and the syllables that they should 
end with. Such rules might be very well if we were to sing 
our writing ; but when the use of writing is to inform , to 
convince, or to persuade ; what can it have to do with such 
rules ? 

There are certain connecting words which [that] it is of 
importance to use properly : such as therefore, which means 
for that cause, for that reason. We must take care, when 
we use such words, that there is occasion for using them. We 
must take care that when we use but, or for, or any other 
connecting word, the sense of our sentences requires such 
word to be used ; for, if such words be improperly used, 
they throw all into confusion. You have seen the shameful 
effect of an although in the King's Speech which [that] I 
noticed in my last Letter. The adverbs when, then, while, 
now, there, and some others, are connecting words, and not 
used in their strictly literal sense. For example : " Well, 
then, I will not do it." Then, in its literal sense, means, 
at that time, or in that time : as, "I was in America then. 11 
But " Well, then, 11 means, " Well, if that be so 11 or " let that 
be so 11 or " in that case 11 You have only to accustom your- 
self a little to reflect on the mea?ting of these words : for 
that will soon teach you never to employ them improperly. 

A writing, or written discourse, is generally broken into 
paragraphs. When a new paragraph should begin, the na- 
ture of your thoughts must tell you. The propriety of it 
will be pointed out to you by the difference between the 
thoughts that are coming and those which [that] have gone 
before. It is impossible to frame rules for regulating such 
divisions. When a man divides his work into Parts, Books, 
Chapters, and Sections, he makes the division according to 



xxiii.] SENTENCES AND FIGURES. 199 

that which [that] the matter has taken in his mind ; and, 
when he comes to write, he has no other guide for the dis- 
tribution of his matter into sentences and paragraphs. 

Never write about any matter that you do not well un- 
derstand. If you clearly understand all about your matter, 
you will never want thoughts, and thoughts instantly be- 
come words. 

One of the greatest of all faults in writing and in speak- 
ing is this : the using of many words to say little. In order 
to guard yourself against this fault, inquire what is the sub- 
stance or amount of what you have said. Take a long speech 
of some talking Lord, and put down upon paper what the 
amount of it is. You will most likely find that the amount 
is very small ; but, at any rate, when you get it, you will 
then be able to examine it, and to tell what it is worth. A 
very few examinations of this sort will so frighten you that 
you will be forever after upon your guard against talking a 
great deal and saying little. 

Figurative language is very fine when properly employed ; 
but, figures of rhetoric are edge-tools, and two-edged tools, 
too. Take care how you touch them ! They are called 
figures, because they represent other things than the words 
in their literal meaning stand for. For instance : " The 
tyrants oppress and starve the people. The people would 
live amid abundance, if those cormorants did not devour 
the fruit of their labor." I shall only observe to you, upon 
this subject, that, if you use figures of rhetoric, you ought 
to take care that they do not make nonsense of what you 
say ; nor excite the ridicule of those to whom you write. 
Mr. Murray, in an address to his students, tells them " that 
he is about to offer them some advice with regard to their 
future walks in the paths of literature." Now, though a 
man may take a walk along a path, a walk means also the 



200 SENTENCES AND FIGURES, [letter 

ground laid out in a certain shape, and such a walk is wider 
than a path. He, in another part of this address, tells them 
that they are in the morning of life, and that that is the 
season for exertion. The morning, my dear James, is not a 
season. The year, indeed, has seasons, but the day has none. 
If he had said the spting of life, then he might have added 
the season of exertion. I told you they were edge-tools. Be- 
ware of them. 

I am now, my dear Son, arrived at the last paragraph of 
my treatise, and I hope that, when you arrive at it, you will 
understand Grammar sufficiently to enable you to write 
without committing frequent and glaring errors. I shall 
now leave you, for about four months, to read and write 
English ; to practice what you have now been taught. At 
the end of those four months I shall have prepared a Gram- 
mar to teach you the French Language* which language I 
hope to hear you speak, and to see you write well, at the 
end of one year from this time. With English and French 
on your tongue and in your pen, you have a resource not 
only greatly valuable in itself, but a resource that you can 
be deprived of by none of those changes and chances which 
[that] deprive men of pecuniary possessions, and which 
[that], in some cases, make the purse-proud man of yester- 
day a crawling sycophant to-day. Health, without which 
life is not worth having, you will hardly fail to secure by 
early rising, exercise, sobriety, and abstemiousness as to 
food. Happiness, or misery, is in the mind. It is the mind 
that lives ; and the length of life ought to be measured by 
the number and importance of our ideas, and not by the num- 
ber of our days. Never, therefore, esteem men merely on 
account of their riches or their station. Respect goodness, 

* The publication of Cobbett's " French Grammar, or Plain Direc- 
tions for the Learning of French," took place in 1823. 



xxiv.] SIX LESSONS. 20 1 

find it where you may. Honor talent wherever you behold 
it unassociated with vice ; but, honor it most when accom- 
panied with exertion, and especially when exerted in the 
cause of truth and justice ; and, above all things, hold it in 
honor when it steps forward to protect defenseless inno- 
cence against the attacks of powerful guilt. 



LETTER XXIV. 



SIX LESSONS, INTENDED TO PREVENT STATESMEN FROM 
USING FALSE GRAMMAR, AND FROM WRITING IN AN 
AWKWARD MANNER. 

Harpenden, Hertfordshire, June 23, 1822. 
My dear James : 

In my first Letter, I observed that it was of the greatest 
importance that Statesmen, above all others, should be able 
to wfite well. It happens, however, but too frequently, 
that that which [that] should be, in this case as well as in 
others, is not ; sufficient proof of which you will find in the 
remarks which [that] I am now about to make. The Let- 
ter to Tierney ; * a thing which [that] I foresaw would be- 
come of great and lasting importance ; a thing to which I 
knew I should frequently have to recur with satisfaction ; I 
wrote on the anniversary of the day on which, in the year 
1810, I was sentenced to be imprisoned for two years, to 
pay a fine of a thousand pounds, and to be held in bonds 
of five thousand pounds for seven years, for having publicly, 
and in print, expressed my indignation at the flogging of 

* George Tierney, a famous parliamentary debater and political 
writer, secretary for Ireland, and president of the Board of Control 
during the administration of Fox and Grenville. 



202 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

English Local-Militia men in the town of £ly, under a 
guard of German soldiers. I thought of this at a time when 
I saw those events approaching which [that] I was certain 
would, by fulfilling my predictions, bring me a compensa- 
tion for the unmerited sufferings and insults heaped upon 
me with so unsparing a hand. For writing the present 
little work, I select the anniversary of a day which [that] 
your excellent conduct makes me regard as among the most 
blessed in the calendar. Who, but myself, can imagine 
what I felt when I left you behind me at [in] New York ! 
Let this tell my persecutors that you have made me more 
than amends for all the losses, all the fatigue, all the dan- 
gers, and all the anxieties attending that exile of which their 
baseness and injustice were the cause. 

The bad writing, on which I am about to remark, I do 
not pretend to look on as the cause of the present public 
calamities, or of any part of them ; but it is a proof of a 
deficiency in that sort of talent which [that] appears to me 
to be necessary in men intrusted with great affairs. He 
who [that] writes badly thinks badly. Confusedness in 
words carl proceed from nothing but confusedness in the 
thoughts which [that] give rise to them. These things 
may be of trifling importance when the actors move in 
private life ; but, when the happiness of millions of men 
is at stake, they are of importance not easily to be de- 
scribed. 

The pieces of writing that I am about to comment on I 
deem bad writing, and, as you will see, the writing may be 
bad, though there may be no grammatical error in it. The 
best writing is that which [that] is best calculated to secure 
the object of the writer ; and the worst, that which [that] 
is the least likely to effect that purpose. But it is not in 
this extended sense of the words that I am now going to 



xxiv.] INTRODUCTION. 203 

consider any writing. I am merely about to give specimens 
of badly-written papers, as a warning to the Statesmen of 
the present day ; and as proofs, in addition to those which 
[that] you have already seen, that we ought not to conclude 
that a man has great abilities merely because he receives 
great sums of the public money. 

The specimens, that I shall give, consist of papers that 
relate to measures and events of the very first importance. 
The first is the Speech of the Speaker of the House of Com- 
mons to the Regent, at the close of the first Session of 18 19, 
during which Mr. Peel's, or the Cash-Payment, Bill had 
been passed ; * the second is the Answer of the Regent to 
that Speech : the first is the work of the House ; the sec- 
ond that of the Ministry. 

In Letter XXII, I gave the reasons why we had a right 
to expect perfection in writings of this description. I there 
described the persons to whom the business of writing 
King's speeches belongs. The Speaker of the House of 
Commons is to be taken as the man of the greatest talent 
in that House. He is called the " First Commoner of Eng- 
land." Figure to yourself, then, the King on his throne, in 
the House of Lords ; the Lords standing in their robes ; 
the Commons coming to the bar, with the Speaker at their 
head, gorgeously attired, with the mace held beside him ; 
figure this scene to yourself, and you will almost think it se- 
dition and blasphemy to suppose it possible that the Speech 
made to the King, or that his Majesty's Answer, both pre- 
pared and written down long beforehand, should be anything 
short of perfection. Follow me, then, my dear Son, through 
this Letter ; and you will see that we are not to judge of 

* This was an act for the gradual assumption of cash payments by 
the Bank of England. The notes of the Bank had been, in 1797, de- 
clared by law a legal tender, although no longer convertible into coin. 



204 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

men's talents by the dresses they wear, by the offices they 
fill, or [nor] by the power they possess. 

After these two Papers I shall take some Papers written 
by Lord Castlereagh, by the Duke of Wellington, and by 
the Marquis Wellesley. These are three of those persons 
who [that] have, of late years, made the greatest figure in 
our affairs with foreign nations. The transactions which 
[that] have been committed to their management have been 
such as were hardly ever exceeded in point of magnitude, 
whether we look at the transactions themselves or at their 
natural consequences. How much more fit than other men 
they were to be thus confided in ; how much more fit to 
have the interest and honor of a great nation committed to 
their hands, you will be able to judge when you shall have 
read my remarks on those of their Papers to which I have 
here alluded. 

In the making of my comments, I shall insert the sev- 
eral papers, a paragraph or two, or more, at a time ; and I 
shall number the paragraphs for the purpose of more easy 
reference. 

LESSON I. 

Remarks on the Speech of the Speaker of the House of Com- 
mons * to the Prince Regent, which Speech was made at 
the close of the first Session of 1819, dming which Ses- 
sion Peels Bill\ was passed. 

"May it please your Royal Highness: 

1. " We, his Majesty's faithful Commons of the United King- 
dom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled, at- 
tend your Royal Highness with our concluding Bill of Supply. 

* The Speaker of the House of Commons at this time was Charles 
Manners Sutton, afterward Viscount Canterbury. 
+ Peel's Bill. See note on p. 203. 



xxiv.] SPEAKER'S SPEECH. 205 

2. "The subjects which [that] have occupied our attention 
have been more numerous, more various and more important, 
than are usually submitted to the consideration of Parliament 
in the same Session." 

It is difficult to say what is meaned [meant],* in Para- 
graph No. 2, by the word various. The Speaker had already 
said that the subjects were more numerous, which was quite 
enough ; for they necessarily differed from each other [one 
another], or they were one and the same ; and, therefore, 
the word various can in this place have no meaning at all, 
unless it mean that the subjects were variegated in them- 
selves, which would be only one degree above sheer non- 
sense. 

Next comes the " than are" without a nominative case. 
Chambermaids, indeed, write in this way, and, in such a 
case, " the dear unintelligible scrawl " is, as the young rake 
says in the play, " ten thousand times more charming" than 
correct writing ; but from a Speaker in his robes we might 
have expected " than those which [that] are usually sub- 
mitted." 

And what does the Speaker mean by " in the same Ses- 
sion"? He may mean "in one and the same Session": 
but what business had the word same there at all ? Could 
he not have said, " during one Session," or " during a single 
Session " ? 

3. " Upon many of these subjects we have been engaged in 
long and unwearied examinations ; but such has been the press- 
ure of other business, and particularly of that which ordinarily 
belongs to a first Session of Parliament — and such the magni- 
tude and intricacy of many of those inquiYies, that the limits of 
the present Session have not allowed of bringing them to a 
close." 

There is bad taste, at least, in using the word examina- 
tions in one part of the sentence, and the word inquiries in 
* See note to par. 35. 



206 SIX LESSONS, [letter 

the other part, especially as the pronoun those was used in 
the latter case. The verb "has" agrees in number with 
the noun "pressure" ; but the Speaker, notwithstanding the 
aid of his wig, was not able to perceive that the same verb 
did not agree in number with the nouns " magnitude and 
intricacy." Such has been the pressure, and such have been 
the " magnitude and intricacy." 

4. " But, Sir, of those measures which [that] we have com- 
pleted, the most prominent, the most important, and, as we 
trust, in their consequences, the most beneficial to the public, are 
the measures which [that] have grown out of the consideration 
of the present state of the country — both in its currency and its 
finances." 

There is not here any positive error in Grammar ; but 
there is something a great deal worse ; namely, unintelligi- 
ble words. The epithet "prominent " was [is] wholly unne- 
cessary, and only served [serves] to inflate the sentence. It 
would have been prudent not to anticipate [predict?], in so 
marked a manner, beneficial consequences from Peel's Bill : 
but what are we to understand from the latter part of the 
sentence ? Here are measures growing out of the consid- 
eration of the state of the country in its currency and finances. 
What ! The state of the country in its currency ? Or is it 
the consideration in its currency ? And what had the word 
both to do there at all ? The Speaker meaned [meant] 
that the measures had grown out of, or, which would have 
been much more dignified, had been the result of a consider- 
ation of the present state of the country, with regard to its 
currency as well as with regard to its finances. 

5. " Early, Sir, in the present Session, we instituted an in- 
quiry into the effects produced on the exchanges with foreign 
countries, and the state of the circulating medium, by the restric- 
tion on payments in cash by the Bank. This inquiry was most 
anxiously and most deliberately conducted, and in its result led 
to the conclusion that it was most desirable, quickly, but with 



xxiv.] SPEAKER'S SPEECH. 207 

due precautions, to return to our ancient and healthful state of 
currency : — That whatever might have been the expediency of 
the Acts for the suspension of payments of cash at the different 
periods at which they were enacted (and doubtless they were ex- 
pedient), whilst the country was involved in the most expensive 
contest that ever weighed down the finances of any country — 
still that, the necessity for the continuance of these Acts having 
ceased, it became us with as little delay as possible (avoiding 
carefully the convulsion of too rapid a transition) to return to 
our ancient system ; and that, if at any period, and under any 
circumstances, this return could be effected without national in- 
convenience, it -was at the present, when this mighty nation, with 
a proud retrospect of the past, after having made the greatest 
efforts, and achieved the noblest objects, was now reposing in a 
confident, and, as viz fondly hope, a well-founded expectation of 
a sound and lasting peace." 

Here, at the beginning of this long and most confused 
paragraph, are two sentences, perfect rivals in all respects ; 
each has 37 words in it ; each has three blunders ; and the 
one is just as obscure as the other. To " institute " is to 
settle, to fix, to erect \ to establish ; and not to set about or 
undertake, which was what was done here. If I were to 
tell you that I have instituted an inquiry into the qualities 
of the Speaker's Speech, you would, though I am your fa- 
ther, be almost warranted in calling me an egregious cox- 
comb. But, what are we to make of the " and the " further 
on ? Does the Speaker mean that they instituted (since he 
will have it so) an inquiry into the state of the circulating 
medium, or into the effects produced on the circulating me- 
dium by the cash suspension ? I defy any man living to say 
which of the two is meaned [meant] by his words. And, 
then we come to " by the Bank " ; and here the only possi- 
ble meaning of the words is, that the restriction was im- 
posed by the Bank ; whereas the Speaker means the restric- 
tion on payments made at the Bank. If at, instead of by, 
had happened to drop out of the wig, this part of the sen- 
tence would have been free from error. 



208 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

As to the second sentence in this Paragraph, No. 5, I 
may first observe on the incongruity of the Speaker's two 
superlative adverbs. Anxiously means with inquietude ; 
and deliberately means coolly, slowly, warily, and the like. 
The first implies a disturbed, the latter a tranquil, state of 
the mind ; and a mixture of these it was, it appears, that 
produced Peel's Bill ; this mixture it was which [that] " in 
its result," LED to the conclusion ; that is to say, the result 
led to the result ; result being conclusion, and conclusion 
being result. But tautology is, you see, a favorite with this 
son of the Archbishop of Canterbury, more proofs of which 
you have yet to witness. And why must the king be com- 
pelled to hear the phrase " healthful state of the currency," 
threadbare as it had long before been worn by Horner and 
all his tribe of coxcombs of the Edinburgh Review ? * Would 
not " our ancient currency " have answered every purpose? 
And would it not have better become the lips of a person 
in the high station of Speaker of the House of Commons ? 

The remaining part of this paragraph is such a mass of 
confusion that one hardly knows where or how to begin 
upon it. The " that" after the colon and the dash seems to 
connect it with what has gone before ; and yet what con- 
nection is there ? Immediately after this " that " begins a 
parenthetical phrase, which is interrupted by a parenthe- 
sis, and then the parenthetical phrase goes on again till it 
comes to a dash, after which you come to the words that 
join themselves to the first " that." These words are " still 
that." Then, on goes the parenthetical phrase again till 
you come to " it became us." Then comes more parentheti- 

* The Edinburgh Review was started in October, 1802, by a knot 
of young men living in the northern metropolis, the chief of whom were 
Francis Jeffrey, Sydney Smith, Francis Horner, and Henry Brougham. 
The political views advocated in its pages from the first were Whig. 



xxiv.] SPEAKER'S SPEECH. 209 

cal matter and another parenthesis : and then comes " to re- 
turn to our ancient system" Take out all the parenthetical 
matter, and the paragraph will stand thus : " That it was 
desirable to return to our ancient and healthful state of cur- 
rency : — that — still that, it became us to return to our an- 
cient system." 

But only think of saying " whatever might have been 
the expediency of the acts " ; and then to make a paren- 
thesis directly afterward for the express purpose of posi- 
tively asserting that they " were expedient " ! Only think 
of the necessity for the continuance of the acts having 
ceased, and of its being becoming in the parliament to re- 
turn to cash payments as soon as possible, and yet that a 
convulsion was to be apprehended from a too rapid tran- 
sition : that is to say, from returning to cash payments 
sooner than possible t 

After this comes a doubt whether the thing can be done 
at all ; for we are told that the parliament, in its wisdom, 
concluded that, if "at any period this return could be 
effected without national inconvenience, it was at the pres- 
ent." And then follows that piece of sublime nonsense 
about the nation's reposing 'in the fond (that is, foolish) hope 
of, not only a lasting, but also a sound, peace. A lasting 
peace would have been enough for a common man : but the 
son of an Archbishop must have it sound as well as lasting, 
or else he would not give a farthing for it. 

6. "In considering, Sir, the state of our finances, and in 
minutely comparing our income with our expenditure, it ap- 
peared to us that the excess of our income was not fairly ade- 
quate for the purposes to which it was applicable — the gradual 
reduction of the national debt. 

7. "It appeared to us that a clear available surplus of 'at 
least five millions ought to be set apart for that object. 

8. "This, Sir, has been effected by the additional impo- 
sition of three millions of taxes." 

14 



210 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

The word "fairly," in Paragraph No. 6, is a redun- 
dancy: it is mere slang. " Adequate for" ought to be 
" adequate to " ; and " applicable " is inapplicable to the 
case ; for the money was applicable to any purpose. It 
should have been, " the purpose (and not the purposes) for 
which it was intended" ; or, " the purpose to which it was 
intended to be applied." 

The 7th Paragraph is a heap of redundant Treasury- 
slang. Here we have surplus ; that is to say, an over-quan- 
tity ; but this is not enough for the Speaker, who must have 
it clear also ; and not only clear, but available : and then 
he must have it set apart into the bargain ! Leave out all 
the words in italic s y and put purpose instead of object at 
the end ; and then you have something like common sense 
as to the words, but still foolish enough as to the political 
view of the matter. 

Even the 8th Paragraph, a simple sentence of fourteen 
words, could not be free from fault. What does the 
Speaker mean by an " additional imposition " ? Did he 
imagine that the king would be fool enough to believe 
that the parliament had imposed three millions of taxes 
without making an addition to former impositions ? How 
was the imposition to be other than " additional " ? Why, 
therefore, cram in this word ? 

9. " Sir, in adopting this course, his Majesty's faithful Com- 
mons did not conceal from themselves that they were calling 
upon the nation for a great exertion ; but well knowing that 
honor \ and character, and independence have at all times been 
the first and dearest objects of the hearts of Englishmen, we 
felt assured that there was no difficulty that the country would 
not encounter, and no pressure to which she would not willingly 
and cheerfully submit, to enable her to maintain, pure and un- 
impaired, that which [that] has never yet been shake?i or sul- 
lied — her public credit and her national good faith." 

This is a sentence which [that] might challenge the 



xxiv.] SPEAKER'S SPEECH. 211 

world! Here is, in a small compass, almost every fault 
that writing can have. The phrase " conceal from them- 
selves " is an importation from France, and from one of the 
worst manufactories too. What is national " honor " but 
national "character"? In what do they differ? And 
what had " independence " to do in a case where the sub- 
ject was the means of paying a debt? Here are three 
things named as the "first" object of Englishmen's hearts. 
Which was the "first" of the three? Or were they the 
first three? To "feel assured " is another French phrase. 
In the former part of the sentence, the Parliament are a they; 
in the latter part they are a we. But it is the figures of 
rhetoric which [that] are the great beauties here. First it 
is Englishmen who [that] have such a high sense of honor 
and character and independence. Next it is the country. 
And next the country becomes a she ; and in her character 
of female will submit to any "pressure " to enable her to 
"maintain" her purity : though scarcely anybody but the 
sons of Archbishops ever talks about maintaining purity, 
most people thinking that, in such a case, preserving is bet- 
ter. Here, how ever, we have pure and unimpaired. Now, 
pure applies to things liable to receive stains and adul- 
terations ; unimpaired, to things liable to be undermined, 
dilapidated^ demolished, or worn out. So the Speaker, in 
order to make sure of his mark, takes them doth, and says 
that the thing which [that] he is about to name, "has 
never yet been shaken or sullied" ! But what is this fine 
thing after all ? Gad ! there are two things ; namely, 
14 public credit and national good faith." So that, leaving 
the word good to go to the long account of redundancy, 
here is another instance of vulgarly-false Grammar ; for the 
two nouns, joined by the conjunction, require the verb have 
instead of has. 



212 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

io. " Thus, Sir, I have endeavored shortly, and I am aware 
how imperfectly, to notice the various duties which [that] have 
devolved upon us, in one of the longest and most arduous ses- 
sions in the Records of Parliament. 

n. "The Bill, Sir, which [that] it is my duty to present to 
your Royal Highness, is entitled ' An Act for applying certain 
moneys therein mentioned for the Service of the year 1819, and 
for further appropriating the supplies granted in this Session of 
Parliament.' To which, with all humility, we pray his Majesty's 
Royal Assent." 

Even here, in these commonplace sentences, there must 
be something stupidly illiterate. The Speaker does not 
mean that his "endeavor" was "shortly" made, or made in 
a short manner ; but that his notice was made in a short 
manner; and, therefore, it ought to have been, li to notice 
shortly" if shortly it must be ; yet surely phraseology less 
groveling might have been used on such an occasion. "In 
the longest session," and " in the records of Parliament," are 
colloquial, low, and incorrect into the bargain ; and as for 
" moneys " in the last paragraph, the very sound of the word 
sends the mind to 'Change Alley, and conjures up before it 
all the noisy herd of Bulls and Bears. 

There is, indeed, one phrase in this whole Speech (that 
in which the Speaker acknowledges the imperfectness of 
the manner in which he has performed his task) which 
[that] would receive our approbation ; but the tenor of the 
Speech, the at once flippant and pompous tone of it, the 
self-conceit that is manifest from the beginning to the end, 
forbid us to give him credit for sincerity when he confesses 
his deficiencies, and tell us that the confession is one of 
those clumsy traps so often used with [in] the hope of catch- 
ing unmerited applause. 



xxiv.] KINGS SPEECH. 213 



LESSON II. 

Remarks on the Speech which \that\ the Prince Regent made 
to the Parliament on the occasion when the above Speech 
of the Speaker was made, 

" My Lords and Gentlemen : 

12. "It is with great regret that I am again obliged to an- 
nounce to you the continuance of his Majesty's lamented indis- 
position. 

13. " I can not close this Session of Parliament without ex- 
pressing the satisfaction that I have derived from the zeal and 
assiduity with which you have applied yourselves to the several 
important objects which [that] have come under your considera- 
tion. 

14. " Your patient and laborious investigation of the state of 
the circulation and currency of the kingdom demands my warm- 
est acknowledgment ; and I entertain a confident expectation 
that the measures adopted, as the result of this inquiry, will be 
productive of the most beneficial consequences." 

The phrase pointed out by italics in the 12th Paragraph 
is ambiguous/ and, as it is wholly superfluous, it has no 
business there. The 13th Paragraph (for a wonder !) is free 
from fault ; but, in the 14th, why does the king make two 
of the " circulation and currency " ? He means, doubtless, 
to speak of the thing, or things, in use as money. This was 
the currency ; and what, then, was the " circulation " ? It 
is not only useless to employ words in this way ; it is a great 
deal worse : for it creates a confusion of ideas in the mind 
of the reader. 

Investigation and inquiry come nearly [near] to each other 
in meaning ; but when the word " this," which had a direct 
application to what had gone before, was used, the word 
investigation ought to [should] have followed it, and not 
the word inquiry ; it being always a mark of great affecta- 
tion and of false taste, when pains are taken to seek for 
synonymous words in order to avoid a repetition of sound. 



214 SIX LESSONS, [letter 

The device is seen through, and the littleness of mind ex- 
posed. 

The fine word " adopted " is not nearly so good as the 
plain word taken would have been. The Parliament did 
not adopt the measures in question ; they were their own ; 
of their own invention : and, if I were here writing remarks 
on the measures, instead of remarks on the language in 
which they were spoken of, we might have a hearty laugh 
at the " confident expectation " which [that] the king enter- 
tained of the " most beneficial consequences " of those meas- 
ures, which were certainly the most foolish and mischievous 
ever taken by any parliament, or by any legislative assem- 
bly in the world. 

" Gentlemen of the House of Commons: 

15. "I thank you for the supplies which [that] you have 
granted for the service of the present year. 

16. " I sincerely regret that the necessity should have existed 
of making any additions to the burdens of the people ; but I 
anticipate [expect] the most important permanent advantages 
from the effort which [that] you have thus made for meeting at 
once all the financial difficulties of the country ; and I derive 
much satisfaction from the belief that the means which [that] 
you have devised for this purpose are calculated to press as 
lightly on all classes of the community as could be expected 
when so great an effort was to be made." 

Nobody, I presume, but kings, says, an " effort for meet- 
ing." Others say that they make an effort to meet. And 
nobody, that I ever heard of before, except bill-brokers, 
talks about meeting money demands. One can not help 
admiring the satisfaction, nay, the " much satisfaction " that 
the King derived from the belief that the new taxes would 
press as lightly as possible on all classes of the community. 
I do not like to call this vulgar nonsense, because, though 
written by the Ministers, it is spoken by the King. But, 
what is it? The additional load must fall upon somebody j 



xxiv.] KING'S SPEECH, 215 

upon some class or classes ; and where, then, was the sense 
of expressing " much satisfaction " that they would fall 
lightly on all classes ? The words " as possible" which come 
after lightly, do nothing more than make an addition to the 
confusion of ideas. 

44 My Lords and Gentlemen: 

17. "I continue to receive from Foreign Powers the strong* 
est assurances of their friendly disposition toward this country. 

18. "I have observed with great concern the attempts which 
[that] have recently been made in some of the manufacturing 
districts to take advantage of circumstances [that are the result 
of or that are the outcome of, or that are due to] of local dis- 
tress, to excite a spirit of disaffection to [toward] the institutions 
and Government of the Country. No object can be nearer my 
heart than to promote the welfare and prosperity of all classes 
of his Majesty's subjects ; but this can not be effected without 
the maintenance of public order and tranquillity. 

19. " You may rely, therefore, upon my firm determination 
to employ, for this purpose, the powers intrusted to me by law ; 
and I have no doubt that, on your return to your several coun- 
ties, you will use your utmost endeavors, in co-operating with 
the Magistracy, to defeat the machinations of those whose pro- 
jects, if successful, could only aggravate the evils which [that] 
it professed to remedy ; and who [that], under the pretense of 
Reform, have really no other object but the subversion of our 
happy Constitution." 

Weak minds, feeble writers and speakers, delight in su- 
perlatives. They have big sound in them, and give the 
appearance of force ; but they very often betray those who 
[that] use them into absurdities. The King, as in Para- 
graph No. 17, might continue to receive strong assurances ; 
but how could he receive " the strongest" more than once? 

In the 1 8th Paragraph we have " welfare and prosperity." 
I, for my part, shall be content with either (the two being 
the same thing), and, if I find, from the acts of the govern- 
ment, reason to believe that one is really sought for, I shall 
care little about the other. 

I am, however, I must confess, not greatly encouraged 



216 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

to hope for this, when I immediately afterward hear of a 
" firm determination" to employ "powers" the nature of 
which is but too well understood. "Determination" can, 
in Grammar, receive no additional force from having firm 
placed before it ; but, in political interpretation, the use of 
this word can not fail to be looked upon as evincing a little 
more of eagerness than one could wish to see apparent in 
such a case. 

In these speeches, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, 
generally go, like crows and ravens, in pairs. Hence we 
have, in the 18th Paragraph, " the institutions and govern- 
ment" of the country. Now, though there may be institu- 
tions of the country which [that] do not form a part of its 
government ; the government is, at any rate, among the coun- 
try's institutions. If every institution do not form a part of 
the government, the government certainly forms a part of 
the institutions. But, as the old woman said by her goose 
and gander, these words have been a couple for so many, 
many years, that it would be a sin to part them just at the 
last. 

The gross grammatical errors in the latter part of the 
last paragraph, where the singular pronoun it represents the 
plural noun projects, and the verb profess is in the past in- 
stead of the present time, one can account for only on the 
supposition that the idea of Reform had scared all the pow- 
ers of thought from the minds of the writers. This unhappy 
absence of intellect seems to have continued to the end of 
the piece ; for here we have " no other object but" instead 
of no other object than : and the word ll really" put into 
the mouth of a king, and on such an occasion, is something 
so very low that we can hardly credit our eyes when we be- 
hold it. 

[Cobbett sometimes appears to me to be hypercritical, 



xxiv.] IN TROD UCTION. 2 1 J 

and sometimes to pass unnoticed what should receive his 
attention. " The strongest assurances " does not seem to 
me to be, by a good deal, as objectionable as " circumstances 
of local distress," or as " spirit of disaffection to the govern- 
ment." Cobbett, as we have seen, blunders occasionally as 
well as the rest of us. The study of his verbal criticisms 
tends to make us think, which is the chief advantage to be 
derived from them.] 



INTRODUCTION 



To the Four Lessons on the Productions of Lord Castlereagh, 
the Duke of Wellington, the Marquis Wellesley, and the 
Bishop of Winchester. 

From the literary productions of Speakers and Ministers 
I come to those of Ambassadors, Secretaries of State, Vice- 
roys, and Bishops. In these persons, even more fully per- 
haps than in the former, we are entitled [have a right] to 
expect proofs of great capacity as writers. I shall give you 
specimens from the writings of four persons of this descrip- 
tion, and these four, men who [that] have been intrusted 
with the management of affairs as important as any that the 
king of this country ever [has] had to commit [intrust ?] to 
the hands of his servants ; I mean Lord Castlereagh, the 
Duke of Wellington, the Marquis Wellesley, and the Bishop 
of Winchester ; the first of whom has been called the great- 
est Statesman, the second, the greatest Captain, the third, 
the greatest Viceroy, the fourth, the greatest Tutor, of the 
age. 

The passages which [that] I shall first select from the 
writings of these persons, are contained in State Papers, re- 
lating to the Museu?ns at Paris. 



218 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

And here, in order that you may be better able to judge 
of the writings themselves, I ought to explain to you the 
nature of the matters to which they relate, and the circum- 
stances under which they were written. The Museums at 
Paris contained, in the year 1815, when the King of France 
was escorted back to that city by the armies of the Allies, 
a great many Statues and Pictures, which [that] Napoleon 
had, in his divers conquests and invasions, taken from the 
collections of other countries, and carried to France. When, 
therefore, the Allies had, by their armies, possession of Paris, 
at the time just mentioned, they rifled these Museums, and 
took from them what had, or what they asserted had, be- 
longed to the Allies respectively. The French contended 
that this was unjust, and that it was an act of pillage. They 
said, that, in 18 14, when the Allies were also in possession 
of the capital of France, they put forward no claim to the 
things in question, which were, to all intents and purposes, 
military booty, or prize ; and that for the Allies to make 
this claim now, was not only contrary to their own prece- 
dent of 1814, but that it was to assume the character of ene- 
mies of France, directly in the teeth of their own repeated 
declarations, in which they had called themselves friends 
and even Allies of France ; and in direct violation of their 
solemn promises to commit against the French nation no 
act of hostility, and to treat it, in all respects, as a friend. 
The Allies had now, however, the power in their hands ; 
and the result was the stripping of the Museums. 

To characterize this act committed by those who [that] 
entered France under the name of Allies of the King 
and of the great body of his people, and who [that] took 
possession of Paris in virtue of a convention which [that] 
stipulated for the security of all public property : to charac- 
terize such an act is unnecessary ; but we can not help la- 



xxiv.] LORD CASTLEREAGH y S NOTE. 219 

meriting that the Ministers of England were open abettors, 
if not original instigators, in' this memorable transaction, 
which, of all the transactions of that time, seems to have 
created the greatest portion [?] of rancor in the minds of 
the people of France. 

That the English Ministers were the instigators appears 
pretty clearly [clear] from the seizure (which was by force of 
arms) having been immediately preceded by a paper (called 
a note) delivered by Lord Castlereagh in the name of the 
Prince Regent, to the Ambassadors of the Allies, which 
paper was dated nth September, 18 15, and from which 
paper I am now about to give you a specimen of the wilt- 
ing of this Secretary of State. 



LESSON III. 

Remarks on Lord Castlereagh 's Note of the nth September, 
181 5, on the Subject of the Museums at Paris. 

This note set out by saying, that representations, on the 
subject of the Statues and Pictures, have been laid before 
the Ambassadors of the Allies, and that the writer has 
received the commands of the Prince Regent to submit, 
for the consideration of the Allies, that which [that] fol- 
lows. After some further matter, among which we find 
this " greatest Statesman" talking of "the indulgen- 
ces " (instead of indulgences) to which the French had a 
right " to aspire " (instead of to hope for) ; after saying 
that the purity of the friendship of the Allies had been 
"proved beyond a question" 'by their last year's conduct, 
and "still more" that is to say, farther than beyond, by 
their this year's conduct ; after talking about the "sub- 
stantial integrity " of France, and thereby meaning that 



220 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

she was to be despoiled of only a part of her dominions ; 
after talking about "combining" this " integrity with such 
an adequate system of temporary precaution as may sat- 
isfy what the Allies owe to the security of their own sub- 
jects " ; after all this, and a great deal more of the same 
description, we come to the paragraphs that I am now 
going to remark on. Observe, I continue the nwnbeiing 
of the paragraphs, as if the whole of the Papers on which 
I am commenting, formed but one piece of writing. 

20. ki Upon what principle can France, at the close of such 
a war, expect to sit down with the same extent of possessions 
which [that] she held before the Revolution, and desire, at the 
same time, to retain the ornamental spoils of all other countries ? 
Is it that there can exist a doubt of the issue of the contest, or of 
the power of the Allies to effectuate what justice and policy 
require ? If not, upon what principle deprive France of her late 
territorial acquisitions, and preserve to her the spoliations apper- 
taining to those territories, which all modern conquerors have 
invariably respected, as inseparable from the country to which 
they belonged ? 

21. u The Allied Sovereigns have perhaps something to atone 
for to Europe, in consequence of the course pursued by them, 
when at Paris, during the last year. It is true, they never did so 
far make themselves parties in the criminality of this mass of 
plunder as to sanction it by any stipulation in their Treaties ; 
such a recognition has been on their part uniformly refused ; but 
they certainly did use their influence to repress at that moment 
any agitation of their claims, in the hope that France, not less 
subdued by their generosity than by their arms, might be disposed 
to preserve inviolate a peace which [that] had been studiously 
framed to serve as a bond of reconciliation between the Nation 
and the King. They had also reason to expect that his Majesty 
would be advised voluntarily to restore a considerable propor- 
tion, at least, of these spoils, to their lawful owners. 

22. ' ' But the question is a very different one now, and to 
pursue the same course, under circumstances so essentially 
altered, would be, in the judgment of the Prince Regent, 
equally unwise toward France, a?id unjust toward our Al- 
lies, who have a direct interest in this question. 

23. "His Royal Highness, in stating this opinion, feels it 
necessary to guard against the possibility of misrepresentation. 

24. ' ' While he deems it to be the duty of the Allied Sover- 



xxiv.] LORD CASTLEREAGWS XOTE. 221 

eigns not only not to obstruct, but [to] facilitate, upon the pres- 
ent occasion, the return of tliese objects to the places from 
•whence they were torn, it seems not less consistent with their 
delicacy not to suffer the position of their armies in France, or 
the removal of these works from the Louvre, to become the 
means, either directly or indirectly, of bringing within their 
own dominions a single article which [that] did not of right, 
at the period of their conquest, belong either to their respective 
family collections, or to the countries over which they now actu- 
ally reign. 

25. "Whatever value the Prince Regent might attach to 
such exquisite specimens of the fine arts, if otherwise acquired, 
he has ?io wish to becoitie possessed of them at the expense of 
France, or rather of the countries to which they of a right [right- 
fully] belong, more especially by following up a pri?icipie in 
war which [that] he considers a reproach to the nation by 
which it has been adopted, and so far from wishing to take 
advantage of the occasion to purchase from the rightful own- 
ers any articles they might, from pecuniary considerations, be 
disposed to part with, His Royal Highness would, on the con- 
trary, be disposed rather to afford the means of replacing them 
in those very temples and galleries of which they were so long 
the ornaments. 

26. M Were it possible that His Royal Highness's sentiments 
toward the person and cause of Louis XVIII could be brought 
into doubt, or that the position of His Most Christian Majesty 
was likely to be injured in the eyes of his own people, the 
Prince Regent would not come to this conclusion without the 
most painful reluctance ; but, on the contrary, His Royal High- 
ness believes that His Majesty will rise in the love and respect 
of his own subjects, in proportion as he separates himself from 
these remembrances of revolutionary warfare. These spoils, 
which impede a moral reconciliation between France and the 
countries she has invaded, are not necessary to record the exploits 
of her armies, which, notwithstanding the cause in which they 
were achieved, must ever make the arms of the nation re- 
spected abroad. But while these objects remain at Paris, 
constituting as it were the title-deeds of the countries which 
[that] have been given up, the sentiments of reuniting these 
countries again to France will never be altogether extinct ; nor 
will the genius of the French people ever completely associate 
itself with the more limited existence assigned to the nation 
under the Bourbons." 

I shall say nothing of the logic of this passage ; and 
I would fain pass over the real and poorly-disguised mo- 



222 SIX LESSONS, [letter 

tive of the proceeding ; but this must strike every ob- 
server. 

It is the mere writing, which [that], at present, is to be 
the principal object of our attention. To be sure, the sen- 
timents, the very thoughts, in Paragraphs 24 and 25, which 
speak the soul, as they are conveyed in the language, of the 
sedentary and circumspect keeper of a huckster's stand, or 
the more sturdy perambulating bearer of a miscellaneous 
pack, do, with voice almost imperious, demand a portion of 
our notice ; while, with equal force, a similar claim is urged 
by the suspicions in the former of these paragraphs, and the 
protestations in the latter, which present to the nations of 
Europe, and especially to the French nation, such a capti- 
vating picture of English frankness and sincerity ! 

But let us come to the writing : and here, in Paragraph 
20, we have spoliations appertaining to territories, though 
spoliation means the act of despoiling, and never does or 
can mean the thing of which one has been despoiled ; and 
next, we have the word which, relating to spoliation, and 
then the subsequent part of the sentence tells us that spolia- 
tions have invariably been respected. 

In the 2 1st Paragraph, does the it relate to criminality 
or to mass of plunder ? and what is meaned [meant] by a 
sanction given to either ? Could the writer suppose it pos- 
sible that it was necessary to tell the Allies, themselves, 
that they had not sanctioned such things? And here, if 
we may, for a moment, speak of the logic of our " greatest 
Statesman," the Allies did sanction, not criminality, not a 
mass of plunder, but the quiet possession of the specimens 
of art, by leaving, in 1 8 14, that possession as they found it. 
At the close of this paragraph, we have a proportion, instead 
of a part, an error common enough with country fellows 
when they begin to talk fine, but one that surely ought to 



xxiv.] LORD CASTLEREAGH'S NOTE. 223 

be absent from the most stately of the productions of a Sec- 
retary of State. 

" Unwise toward France, and unjust toward the Allies," 
and "equally" too, is as pretty a specimen of what is called 
twattle as you will find ; while " the return " of these " ob- 
jects" the not purloining of a " single article" the not wish- 
ing to " take advantage " and to "purchase any of the arti- 
cles that the owners might wish to part with" form as fine 
an instance of the powers of the plume de crasse, or pen of 
mud, as you will be able to hunt out of the history of a 
whole year's proceedings at the Police Offices. 

But, in Paragraph 24, we have " their conquest." The 
conquest of whom or what? That of the Allies, that of their 
dominions, or that of the " objects" 1 It is impossible to 
answer, except by guess ; but it comes out, at any rate, that 
there was a conquest ; and this " greatest Statesman" might 
have perceived that this one word was a complete answer 
to all his assertions about plunder and spoliation ; for that 
which [that] is conquered is held of right ; and the only 
want of right in the Allies, forcibly to take these " articles," 
arose from their having entered France as Allies of the King 
of F?-a?tce, and not as enemies and conquerors. 

And what, in Paragraph 25, is meaned [meant] by "fol- 
lowing up a principle in war" ? The phrase, " follow up a 
principle," is low as the dirt ; it is chit-chat, and very unfit 
to be used in a writing of this sort. But, as to the sense : 
how could the Regent, even if he had purchased the pic- 
tures, be said to follow up a principle " in war " ? The 
meaning, doubtless, was that the Regent had no wish to 
become possessed of these things at the expense of France, 
or, rather, at the expense of the countries to which they be- 
longed, especially as he could not thus gratify his taste for 
the arts without acting upon a principle which [that] the 



224 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

French had acted on in war. This meaning might, indeed, 
be supposed to be contained in the above phrase of Lord 
Castlereagh ; but in a writing of this kind ought [should] 
anything to be left to supposition ? 

The 26th Paragraph is an assemblage of all that is in- 
correct, low, and ludicrous. The " was " after Christian 
Majesty ought to [should] be could be, that is, " were it pos- 
sible that his position could be likely to be injured " ; and 
not " were it possible that his position was likely to be in- 
jured," which is downright nonsense. And then only think 
of an injured position ; and of the King's position being in- 
jured " in the eyes " of his people ! " But, on the contrary'* 
On the contrary of what? Look back, and see if it be pos- 
sible to answer this question. Next comes the intolera- 
ble fustian of the King " separating himself from remem- 
brances" '; and from this flight, down the " greatest States- 
man " pitches, robs the attorney's office, and calls the Statues 
and Pictures " title-deeds, as it were " ; and this " as it were " 
is, perhaps, the choicest phrase of the whole passage. But, 
in conclusion (for it is time to have done with it), what do 
you say to " the sentiments of reuniting the countries to 
France"? And, what do you say, then, to the "genius" 
(that is, the disposition) " of the French people associating 
itself with the limited existence assigned to the nation under 
the Bourbons " ? What do you say of the man who [that] 
could make use of these words, when his meaning was, 
" that, as long as these Statues and Pictures remained to 
remind the French people of the late extent of the domin- 
ions of France, their minds would not be completely recon- 
ciled to those more narrow limits, which [that] had now 
been prescribed to her " ? What do you say of the man 
who, having this plain proposition to state, could talk of the 
genius of the people associating itself with the more limited 



xxiv.] WELLINGTON'S DISPATCH, 22$ 

existence of the nation, the nation being the people ; and 
therefore his meaning, if there be any sense in the words, 
being, that the people as a nation had, under the Bourbons, 
had their existence, or length of life, abridged ? What do 
you say, what can you say of such a man, but that nature 
might have made him for a valet, for a strolling player, and 
possibly, for an auctioneer ; but never for a Secretary of 
State ! * Yet this man was educated at the University of 
Cambridge. \ 

LESSON IV. 

Remarks on a Dispatch of the Duke of Wellington (called 
the greatest Captain of the Age) relative to the Museums 
at Paris. 

Having, as far as relates to the Museums, taken a suffi- 
cient view of the writing of the greatest Statesman of the 
age, I now come to that of the "greatest Captain." The 
writing that I am now about to notice relates to the same 
subject. The Captain was one of the Commanders at Paris, 
at the time above spoken of, and it is in that capacity that 
he writes. But we ought to observe, here, that he is not 

* This Statesman, looked upon by one party as a paragon of perfec- 
tion, has been characterized by the other party as M the most intoler- 
able mischief that ever was cast by an angry Providence on a helpless 
people." 

+ This Lesson was written in June, 1822. On the 12th August, 1822, 
this same Lord Castlereagh (being still Secretary of State) killed himself 
at North Cray, in Kent, by cutting his throat. A Coroner's Jury pro- 
nounced him to have been insane ; and, which is very curious, a letter 
from the Duke of Wellington was produced to prove that the deceased 
had been insane for some time. Though, mind, he had been for some 
time, and was when he cut his throat, actually intrusted with the care 
and powers of the other two Secretaries 1 offices (they being absent), as 
well as those of the office of Foreign Affairs! — Note by Cobbett. 

15 



226 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

only a great Captain, but a great Ambassador also ; and that 
he was Ambassador at the Congress of Vienna * just before 
the time we are speaking of ; and that he was formerly Sec- 
retary of State for Ireland. 

The paper, from which I am about to make a quotation, 
is a "dispatch " from the " greatest Captain " to Lord Castle- 
reagh, dated at Paris, 23d September, 18 15, soon after the 
Museums had been rifled. 

I shall not take up much of your time with the perform- 
ance of this gentleman ; a short specimen will suffice ; and 
that shall consist of the first three paragraphs of his " dis- 
patch!' 

11 My dear Lord : 

27. " There has been a good deal of discussion here lately re- 
specting the measures which [that] I have been under the neces- 
sity of adopting, in order to get for the King of the Netherlands 
his pictures, etc. , from the Museums ; and lest these reports 
should reach the Prince Regent, I wish to trouble you, for His 
Royal Highness's information, with the following statement of 
what has passed. 

28. " Shortly after the arrival of the Sovereigns at Paris, the 
Minister of the King of the Netherlands claimed the pictures, 
etc., belonging to his Sovereign, equally with those of other 
powers ; and, as far as I could learn, never could get any satis- 
factory reply from the French Government. After several con- 
versations with me, he addressed your Lordship an official Note, 
which was laid before the Ministers of the Allied Sovereigns, as- 
sembled in conference ; and the subject was taken into consider- 
ation repeatedly, with a view to discover a mode of doing justice 
to the Claimants of the specimens of the arts in the Museums, 
without injuring the feelings of the King of France. In the 
mean time the Prussians had obtained from His Majesty not only 
all the really Prussian Pictures, but those belonging to the Prus- 
sian territories on the left of the Rhine, and the Pictures, etc., 

* The Congress of Vienna was held in that capital after the first 
treaty of Paris, for the general settlement of the affairs of Europe. The 
Congress first met on the 30th September, 1814, Lord Castlereagh, and 
afterward the Duke of Wellington, acting as representatives of Great 
Britain. 



xxiv.] WELLINGTON'S DISPATCH, 227 

belonging to all the Allies of His Prussian Majesty ; and the sub- 
ject pressed for an early decision ; and your Lordship wrote your 
note of the nth inst., in which it was fully discussed. 

29. " The Ministers of the King of the Netherlands still hav- 
ing no satisfactory answer from the French Government, ap- 
pealed to me, as the General in Chief of the army of the King 
of the Netherlands, to know whether I had any objection to em- 
ploy His Majesty's Troops to obtain possession of what was his 
undoubted property. I referred this application again to the 
Ministers of the Allied Courts, and no objection having been 
stated, I considered it my duty to take the necessary measures 
to obtain what was his right" 

The great characteristic of this writing (if writing it 
ought to be called) is the thorough-paced vulgarity of it. 
There is a meanness of manner as well as of expression, 
and, indeed, a suitableness to the subject much too natural, 
in all its appearances, to have been the effect of art. 

The writer, though addressing a Minister of State, and 
writing matter to be laid before a Sovereign, begins exactly 
in the manner of a quidnunc talking to another that he has 
just met in the street. " There has been a. good deal of dis- 
cussion " (that is to say, talk) " here " ; that is to say, at 
Paris, Castlereagh being, at the time, in London. The 
phrase ** to get for" is so very dignified that it could have 
come only from a great man, and could have been inspired 
by nothing short of the consciousness of being " the Ally of 
all the nations of Europe" as the writer calls himself in an- 
other part of this famous " dispatch" 

But what are " these reports," of which the great Cap- 
tain speaks in the latter part of this paragraph ? He had 
spoken of no reports before. He had mentioned " discus- 
sion" and a "good deal" of it; but had said not a word 
about reports ; and these reports pop out upon us like " these 
six men in buckram," * in Falstaffs narrative to the Prince. 

* See Shakespeare's Henry IV (ist Part), Act ii, sc. iv. Cobbett is 
wrong in regard to the number. Falstaffs "rogues in buckram" 



228 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

The Captain's " wishing to trouble " Lord Castlereagh, 
"for the Regent's information" closes this paragraph in a 
very suitable manner, and prepares the mind for the next, 
where the Regent would find trouble enough, if he were 
compelled to find out the English of it. The Dutch 
Minister " clai?ned the Pictures belonging to his Sovereign, 
equally with those of other powers!' What ! did this Dutch- 
man claim the whole : those belonging to the Dutch Sov- 
ereign and those belonging to all the other powers besides ? 
This, to be sure, would have been in the true Dutch style ; 
but this could hardly be the fact. If it were, no wonder 
that the Duke had learned that the Minister " never could 
get any satisfactory reply " ; for it must have been a deal 
indeed that would have satisfied him. 

The phrase " he addressed your Lordship an official 
Note " is in the counting-house style ; and then to say to 
Lord Castlereagh, " your Lordship wrote your Note of the 
nth of September," was so necessary, lest the latter should 
imagine that somebody else had written the note ! Nor are 
the four ands in this paragraph to be overlooked ; for never 
was this poor conjunction so worked before, except, per- 
haps, in some narrative of a little girl to her mother. 

The narrative is, in the last-quoted paragraph, con- 
tinued with unrelaxed spirit. The Dutch Minister can still 
obtain no satisfactory answer ; he asks the Duke whether 
he has any objection to use force, and asserts, at the same 
time, that the goods in question are his master's " undoubted 
property" Upon this the Duke applies to the other Min- 
isters, and "no objection having been stated" he considers 
it his duty to obtain " what was his right" ; that is to say, 
the Dutch King's right. 

mounted from two to four, then to seven, then to nine, and at last there 
were eleven buckram men grown out of two. 



xxiv.] CASTLEREAGH' S SECOND NOTE. 229 

Never was there surely a parcel of words before put to- 
gether by anybody in so clumsy a manner. In a subse- 
quent part of the " dispatch " we have this : "I added, that 
I had no instructions regarding the Museum, nor no grounds 
on which to form a judgment." In another place we have 
" the King of the Netherlands' Pictures." In another place 
we have " that the property" should be returned to their 
rightful owners. 

But, to bestow criticism on such a shocking abuse of 
letters is to disgrace it : and nothing can apologize for what 
I have done but the existence of a general knowledge of 
the fact that the miserable stuff that I have quoted, and on 
which I have been remarking, proceeded from the pen of a 
man who [that] has, on many occasions, had some of the 
most important of the nation's affairs committed to his man- 
agement. There is in the nonsense of Castlereagh a fri- 
volity and a foppery that give it a sort of liveliness, and 
that now and then elicit a smile ; but in the productions of 
his correspondent there is nothing to relieve , all is vulgar, 
all clumsy, all dull, all torpid inanity. 

LESSON V. 

Remarks on a Note presented by Lord Castlereagh to the 
Ambassadors of the Allies at Paris \ in July, 18 15, re la- 
tive to the Slave Trade. 

30. " Viscount Castlereagh, his Britannic Majesty's 
Principal Secretary of State, etc. , in reference to the communica- 
tion he has made to the Conference of the orders addressed to 
the Admiralty to suspend all hostilities against the coast of 
France, observes, that there is reason to foresee that French 
ship-owners might be induced to renew the Slave Trade, under 
the supposition of the peremptory and total abolition decreed by 
Napoleon Bonaparte having ceased with his power ; that, never- 
theless, great and powerful considerations, arising from motives 



230 SIX LESSON'S. [letter 

of humanity and even regard for the King's authority, require 
that no time should be lost to maintain in France the entire 
and immediate abolition of the Traffic in Slaves ; that if, at the 
time of the Treaty of Paris, the King's administration could 
wish a final but gradual stop should be put to this Trade, in the 
space of five years, for the purpose of affording the King the 
gratification of having consulted, as much as possible, the in- 
terests of the French Proprietors in the Colonies, now, that the 
absolute prohibition has been ordained, the question assumes 
e?ztirely a different shape, for if the King were to revoke the 
said prohibition, he would give himself the disadvantage of au- 
thorizing, in the interior of France, the reproach which [that] 
more than once has been thrown out against his former Govern- 
ment, of countenancing reactions, and, at the same time, justi- 
fying, out of France, and particularly in England, the belief of 
a systematic opposition to liberal ideas ; that accordingly the 
time seems to have arrived when the Allies can not hesitate 
formally to give weight in France to the immediate and entire 
prohibition of the Slave Trade, a prohibition, the necessity of 
which has been acknowledged, in principle, in the transactions 
of the Congress at Vienna." 

Now, I put this question to you : Do you understand 
what this great Statesman means ? Read the Note three 
times over, and then say whether you understand what he 
wants? You may guess ; but you can go little further. 
Here is a whole mass of grammatical errors ; but, it is the 
obscurity, the unintelligibleness of the Note, that I think 
constitutes its greatest fault. One way of proving the bad- 
ness of this writing is to express the meaning of the writer 
in a clear manner ; thus : 

" Lord Castlereagh observes that there is reason to ap- 
prehend that the French ship-owners may be induced to 
renew the Slave Trade, from a supposition that the total 
abolition, recently decreed by Napoleon, has been nullified 
by the cessation of his authority ; that motives of humanity 
as well as a desire to promote the establishment of the 
King's authority, suggest that no time should be lost in 
taking efficient measures to maintain the decree of aboli- 
tion ; that at the time of the treaty of Paris, the King's 



xxiv.] CASTLEREAGH'S SECOND NOTE, 231 

Ministers wished to abolish this trade, but, in order that 
the King might, as much as possible, consult the interests 
of the colonial proprietors, those Ministers wished the ob- 
ject to be accomplished by degrees during the space of five 
years ; that now, however, when the abolition has been 
actually decreed, the matter assumes an entirely different 
shape, seeing that it is not now an abolition, but the re- 
fraining from revoking an abolition, that is proposed to be 
suggested to the King ; that, if the King were to do this, 
he would warrant among his own people, the injurious im- 
putation, more than once brought against his former gov- 
ernment, of countenancing the work of undoing and over- 
turning, and would, at the same time, confirm foreign na- 
tions, and particularly the English, in the belief that he had 
adopted a systematic opposition to liberal principles and 
views ; that, therefore, the interests of the King not less 
than those of humanity seem to call upon the Allies to give, 
formally and without delay, the weight of their influence in 
favor, as far as relates to France, of an entire and imme- 
diate abolition of the Slave Trade, an abolition, the neces- 
sity of which has, in principle at least, been acknowledged 
in the transactions of the Congress of Vienna." 

Now, as to the several faulty expressions in the Note of 
Castlereagh, though I have made great use of italics, I have 
not pointed out one half of the faults. Who ever before 
heard of a reason to foresee a thing? He meaned [meant] 
reason to believe that the thing would take place, and as it 
was a thing to be wished not to take place, to app7-ehend was 
the word ; because to apprehend means to think of with 
some degree of fear. Wishing to-morrow to be a fine day, 
what would you think of me if I were to say that I had 
reason to foresee that it would rain ? The might is clearly 
wrong. If the abolition were total, what had peremptory to 



232 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

do there ? Could it be more than total? The nevertheless 
had no business there. He was about to give reasons why 
the abolition-decree ought to be confirmed ; but he had 
stated no reasons given by anybody why it should not. To 
lose no time to maintain ; and then the in France, and then 
the immediate ; altogether here is such a mass of confusion 
that one can not describe it. "To maintain in France," 
would lead one to suppose that there was, or had been, a 
slave trade in France. The next part, beginning with " that 
if" sets ail criticism at defiance. Look at the verbs could 
wish, and should be / Look at of having. Then comes 
prohibition for abolition, two very different things. To as- 
sume entirely a different shape is very different from to as- 
sume an entirely different shape. The latter is meaned 
[meant], and the former is said. Then what does the for 
do there ? What consequence is he coming to ? How was 
he going to show that the shape was different ? He attempts 
to show no such thing ; but falls to work to foretell the evils 
which [that] will fall on the King of France if he revoke 
Napoleon's decree. And here, Goddess of Grubb street, 
do hear him talking of the King of France giving himself 
the disadvantage of authorizing reproaches ! If the King's 
conduct would justify people in believing ill of him, why 
should it justify the English in particular? They might, 
indeed, be more ready to believe ill of him ; but it could not 
be more just in them than in others. An opposition to ideas 
is a pretty idea enough : and so is the giving of weight in 
France to an immediate prohibition ! 

Never was there, surely, such a piece of writing seen 
before ! Fifty years hence, no man who [that] should read it, 
would be able to ascertain its meaning. I am able to pick it 
out, because, and only because, I am acquainted with the 
history of the matter treated of. And yet, most momentous 



xxiv.] CASTLEREAGH'S SECOND NOTE. 2$$ 

transactions, transactions involving the fate of millions of 
human beings, have been committed to the hands of this man ! 

It is not unnecessary for me to observe that, though I 
have stated the meaning of this note in a way for it to be 
understood, I by no means think, that even in the words 
in which I have expressed it, it was a proper Note for the 
occasion. It was false in professions ; and it was, as to- 
ward the King of France, insolent in a high degree. Even 
if it had been just to compel the King to abolish the Slave 
Trade, the matter might have been expressed in a less offen- 
sive manner ; and, at any rate, he might have been spared 
the brutal taunt that we meet with toward the close of this 
matchless specimen of diplomatic stupidity. 

Hoping that this book will outlive the recollection of 
the transactions treated of by the Papers on which I have 
been remarking, it seems no more than justice to the par- 
ties to say that the abolition, which [that] was thus extorted, 
had effect but for a very short time ; and the French nation 
never acknowledged it as binding ; that at this moment 
(June, 1822), complaints are made in the House of Com- 
mons of the breach of agreement on the part of the French ; 
that the French have revived and do carry on the traffic in 
African slaves ; * that our Ministers promise to make re- 
monstrance ; but that they dare not talk of war ; and that 
without declaring their readiness for war, their remon- 
strances can have no effect. 

* The influence of Great Britain was strenuously exerted at the peace 
of 1814 and 1815, and afterward at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, to 
obtain the concurrence of foreign powers in the abolition of slavery. 
The Duke of Wellington, while ambassador at Paris in 1814, used every 
effort to obtain from the restored government a prohibition of the traffic ; 
but the West Indian interest, and commercial jealousy of England, frus- 
trated all his attempts, and Napoleon, during the hundred days on his 
return from Elba, first abolished the trade by law. 



234 SIX IESSONS. [letter 



LESSON VI. 

Remarks on passages in Dispatches from the Marquis Wel- 
lesley, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland^ to Viscount Sid- 
mouth^ and to Mr. Peel, Secretaries of State ;% dated 
Dublin Castle, from 3d January to 12th June, 1822 ; and 
also on the Charge of the Bishop of Winchester, de- 
livered in July, 1822. 

31. " Concluding that your Lordship had been apprised be- 
fore my arrival in Dublin, of every important circumstance re- 
specting the unhappy disturbances which [that] have prevailed 
in this country, I proceed to submit to you, for his Majesty 1 s 
consideration, such information as I have received on that sub- 
ject during the few days that have passed since my succession 
to this Government. 

32. "I propose to arrange this information with reference 
to each county respectively, for the purpose of facilitating a com- 
parison with such statements as may already be in your Lord- 
ship's possession, and of enabling you to form a judgment of the 
relative state of each particular district at the different periods 
of time specified in each document" 

The Marquis's style is not, in general, lozv and clumsy ; 
it has the opposite faults, affectation and foppishness ; and 
where the meaning of the writer is obscure, it is not so much 
because he has not a clear head as because he can not con- 
descend to talk in the language and manner of common 
mortals. 

" Had been apprised before of disturbances which have 
prevailed " presents great confusion as to times. We can 

* Richard Colley Wellesley, Marquis of Wellesley, brother of the 
Duke of Wellington, was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1821 to 
1828. 

t Henry Addington, Viscount Sidmouth, entered parliament in 1784, 
and held various public offices between that time and his retirement 
into private life in 1822. He was Speaker of the House of Commons for, 
twelve years ; and Prime Minister from 1801 to 1804. 

X Sir Robert Peel, then Mr. Peel, became Home Secretary in 1822. 



xxiv.] WELLESLEY'S DISPATCHES. 235 

hardly come at the precise meaning. It should have been : 
" Concluding that, before my arrival, your Lordship was ap- 
prised of every important circumstance respecting the un- 
happy disturbances prevailing in this country." For, the 
prevalence was still in existence. To submit is to place at 
the disposal of, to put under the power of; and, therefore, 
transmit, or send, was the proper word ; for it is the King 
to whom the information is sub?nitted. The Marquis sent 
the information to Lord Sidmouth that he might submit it 
to the King. 

" Succession to this government " is a strangely pom- 
pous phrase at best. But, it is not correct ; for his succes- 
sion (if it were one) took place at his appointment ; and he 
is about to speak of what he has learned since his arrival in 
Dublin ; and why not say arrival? 

The 32d Paragraph is, perhaps, as complete a specimen 
of smoothness in words and of obscurity in meaning as ever 
found its way upon paper : and yet this was an occasion for 
being particularly clear, seeing that the Marquis was here 
explaining the plan of his dispatch. With reference to, 
means in relation to, as appertaining to, having a view to- 
ward. The first is the best for the Marquis : and that is 
little short of nonsense ; for what is arranging information 
in relation to each county ? What does it mean ? Not 
what the Marquis thought he was saying, which was that he 
proposed to speak of the state of all the counties, and that 
the information relating to each county he meaned [meant] 
to place under a separate head. This was what he meaned 
[meant] ; but this he does not say. 

And then again, what does respectively do here after 
each? Respectively means particularly or relatively ; and 
as he had before said, or meaned [meant] to say, that he 
proposed to place the information relating to each county 



236 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

under the head of that county, what need was there of the 
addition of this long and noisy adverb ? 

To be sure, to place the information under separate 
heads, each head confining itself to the information relat- 
ing to one county, was a very good way of facilitating a 
comparison of this information with that which [that] was 
already in Lord Sidmouth's possession ; but it was not 
enough to say "facilitating a comparison with such state- 
ments " ; and there appears, besides, to be no reason to con- 
clude that the information before possessed was arranged 
according to counties ; on the contrary, the Marquis's lay- 
ing down of his plan would induce us to suppose that the 
arrangement of his matter was new. 

The latter part of the sentence is all confusion. The 
Marquis means that, by placing his information as before 
described, he shall enable Lord Sidmouth to form a judg- 
ment of the state of each district, now, compared with the 
state in which it was at the date of the former information. 
The " relative state of each particular district " may mean 
its state at one peiiod co7?ipared with its state at another 
petiod ; but, "at diffei'ent periods of time" by no means 
gives us this idea. And, even if it did, what are we to do 
with the " each document " at the close ? Each means one 
of two, one of more than one. So that here we have the rela- 
tive state of a district at the different periods of time speci- 
fied in one document ; and the main point that the Marquis 
was driving at was to show Lord Sidmouth the manner in 
which he was going to enable him to compare the contents 
of the present document with those of the documents already 
held in his possession. 

I have taken here the first two sentences of the dispatch. 
They are a fair specimen of the Marquis's style, the great 
characteristic of which is obscurity arising from affectation. 



xxiv.] WELLE SLEY'S DLSPATCHES. 237 

What he meaned [meant] was this : " I propose to place 
the information relating to each county under a distinct 
head, for the purpose of facilitating a comparison of this in- 
formation with that which [that] your Lordship may already 
possess, and also for the purpose of enabling you to form a 
judgment of the present state of each county, compared with 
the state in which it was at the date of former dispatches." 
And would it not have been better to write thus than to put 
upon paper a parcel of words, the meaning of which, even 
if you read them a hundred times over, must still remain a 
matter of uncertainty ? 

But, there is another fault here ; and that is, all the lat- 
ter part of the sentence is a mere redundancy ; for of what 
was Lord Sidmouth to " form a judgment " ? A judgment 
of the comparative state of the country at the two periods ? 
What could this be more than the making of the compari- 
son ? Judgment, in this case, means opinion ; and, if the 
Marquis had said that his object was to enable Lord Sid- 
mouth to form a judgment as to what ought to be done, for 
instance, in consequence of the change in the state of the 
country, there would have been some sense in it ; but to 
enable him to see the change was all that the Marquis was 
talking about ; and the very act of making the comparison 
was to discern, or judge of, the change. 

It is not my intention to swell out these remarks, or, 
with this dispatch before me, I could go on to a great ex- 
tent indeed. Some few passages I can not, however, re- 
frain from just pointing out to you. 

33. " The commanding officer at Bantry reports a daring 
attack made a few nights previously, on several very respectable 
houses in the immediate vicinity of that town, by a numerous 
banditti, who succeeded in obtaining arms from many ; and the 
officer stationed at Skibbereen states his opinion that the spirit 
of disaffection, which had been confined to the northern Baronies 



238 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

of the county, had spread in an alarming measure through the 
whole of West Carbury ; that nightly meetings are held at vari- 
ous places on the coast, and that bands of offenders assemble, 
consisting of not less than three hundred in each band. 

34. ■ ' It further appears, from various communications, that 
the greater part of the population of the northern part of the 
county of Cork had assembled in the mountains, and that they 
have in some places made demonstrations of attack, and in others 
have committed outrages by day, with increased force and bold- 
ness." 

" Reports an attack " is of the slang military, and should 
not have forced its way into this dispatch. " States his 
opinion, that," is little better. But it is to the strange con- 
fusion in the times of the verbs that I here wish to direct 
your attention. This is a fault the Marquis very frequently 
commits. 

35. "The Magistrates resident at Dunmanaway report that 
illegal oaths have for a long time been administered in that neigh- 
borhood ; that nocturnal meetings have frequently been held ; 
that in the adjoining parishes, notices of an inflammatory de- 
scription have been posted ; and in one parish, arms have been 
taken from the peaceable inhabitants. 

36. ' ' The Rector of reports, on the 10th, that six houses 

of his parishioners had been [were] attacked on the preceding 
night, and some arms obtained from them, and then an attempt 
had been made to assassinate Captain Bernard, an active yeo- 
manry officer, when only a short distance behind his corps, but 
that, owing to the pistol presented at him missing fire, he escaped, 
and his brother shot the assailant." 

We do not know from the words " have for a long time 
been administered," whether the oaths were administered a 
long time ago, or are now, and long have been administer- 
ing. The that should have been repeated between the and 
and the in toward the close of Paragraph 35 ; for the want 
of it takes the last fact out of the report of the Magistrates, 
and makes it an assertion of the Marquis. The same re- 
mark applies to the 36th Paragraph, where, for the want of 
the that between the and and the then, it is the Marquis, 



xxiv.] WELLESLEY'S DISPATCHES. 239 

and not the Rector, who [that] asserts the fact of an attempt 
to assassinate the Captain. An odd sort of an attempt to 
assassinate, by-the-by, seeing that it was made by a pistol 
openly presented at him, and that, too, when his troop was 
just on before, and when his brother was so near at hand as 
to be able to shoot the assailant ! But assassinate is become 
a fashionable word in such cases. 

37. "On the evening of the same day a detachment of the 
nth Regiment was attacked, on its march from Macroom to 
Bandon, by a party of sixty men, who followed it for three miles, 
and took advantage of the inclosures to fire, and to retard the 
march of the King's troops." 

The meaning is that the party of sixty men followed it (the 
regiment), took advantage of the inclosures to fire on it, and 
to retard its march ; but, the Marquis, from a desire to 
write fine, leaves us in doubt whether the regiment and the 
King's troops be the same body of men ; and this doubt 
is, indeed, countenanced by the almost incredible circum- 
stance that a regular regi?nent should be followed for three 
miles, and actually have its march retarded by sixty men ! 

38. "A countryman's house is also stated to have been at- 
tacked by forty men, well mounted and armed, who severely beat 

and wounded him and took his horse. reports an attack 

on the house of Mr. Sweet, near Macroom, who, having received 
previous intimation of the attack, and having prepared for de- 
fense, succeeded in repulsing the assailants, about two hundred 
in number, with a loss of two killed, who were carried off by 
their associates, although their horses were secured." 

Here we have reports an attack again ; but, your atten- 
tion is called to the latter part of the paragraph, where it 
would appear that Mr. Sweet sustained a loss of two killed ; 
and yet these two dead men were carried off by their assail- 
ants. If the Marquis had stopped at the word killed, it 
would have been impossible not to understand him to mean 
that Mr. Sweet had two of his men killed. 



240 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

39. " A Magistrate communicates that information had [has] 
been received by him of several intended attacks upon houses in 
that neighborhood, but that they had been [were] prevented by 
the judicious e?nployment of the police, stationed at Sallans, un- 
der the Peace Preservation Act." 

By employing the Police in a judicious manner, the Mar- 
quis means ; but says quite another thing. 

40. ' ' The Police Magistrate of Westmeath reports the setting 
fire to a farmer's outhouses, which, together with the cattle in 
them,. WAS consumed." 

It should be " the setting of fire " ; and it should be 
were, and not was ; for the deuce is in it if outhouses, to- 
gether with the cattle in them, do not make up a plural. 

41. " The result of the facts stated in this Dispatch, and its 
inclosures, seems to justify an opinion that, although no material 
change has occurred in any other part of Ireland, the disturb- 
ances in the vicinity of Macroom have assumed a more decided 
aspect of general disorder, and accordingly I have resorted to 
additional measures of precaution and military operation." 

There should be an in between the and and the its. But 
it is not the result of the facts that seems to justify the opin- 
ion ; it is the facts themselves that justify the opinion, and 
the opinion is the result. Measures of military operation, 
too, is an odd sort of phrase. This paragraph is all bad, 
from beginning to end ; but I am merely pointing out promi- 
nent and gross errors. 

42. " Another Magistrate reports several robberies of arms m. 
the parishes of Skull and Kilmore, and the burning of a corn 
store at Crookhaven ; and, another, in representing the alarm- 
ing state of the county, adds, that the object of the insurgents, 
in one district at least, has not been confined to the lowering of 
rents and tithes, but extended to the refusal also of the Pries fs 
dues. 11 

To rob applies to the person or thing from whom or [from] 
which, something is violently and unlawfully taken. Men 
rob a man of his money, or a house of its goods ; but, it is 



xxiv.] WELLESLEY'S DISPATCHES. 241 

not the money and goods that are robbed. Yet this is a very- 
common phrase with the Marquis, who, in other places, talks 
of "plundering arms from people," and who, by saying " six 
hundred and seventy-six fire-arms" and the like, leaves us 
clearly to understand that he is at liberty to use this noun 
in the singular^ and, of course, to say a fire-arm whenever 
he may choose, a liberty, however, which [that] I would, my 
dear James, earnestly recommend to you never to think of 
taking. 

To confine and extend an object does not seem to be very 
clear sense : and, at any rate, to say that the object of low- 
ering rents and tithes has been extended to the refusal also 
of the Priest's dues makes sad work indeed. Without the 
also^ the thing might pass ; but that word makes this part 
of the sentence downright nonsense. 

43. " No additional military force, no improvement nor aug- 
mentation of the police, would now be effectual without the aid 
of the Insurrection Act ; with that aid it appears to be rational 
to expect that tranquillity may be maintained, confirmed, and ex- 
tended through Ireland. It is, therefore, my duty, in every view, 
to request the renewal of the law, of which the operation fortns 
the subject of this dispatch." 

Did any man, in any writing of any sort, ever before 
meet with anything like this ? Suppose I were to say, " the 
waitings of which the inaccuracies form the subject of these 
remarks," what would the world think and say of me ? This 
is indeed "prose run mad" 

44. u With respect to Westmeath, the Chief Magistrate of 
Police has stated the revival of those party feuds and personal 
conflicts in the neighborhood of Mullingar, which [that] are con- 
sidered in this country to be indications of the return of public 
tranquillity, and from which the magistrate expects the detection 
of past offenses against the state." 

One loses sight of all about language here, in contem- 
plating the shocking, the horrible fact ! For, what is so 
16 



242 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

horrible as the fact here officially stated, that party feuds 
and personal conflicts are deemed indications favorable to 
the government, and that they are expected by the magis- 
trate to lead to the detection of past offenses against the state ! 
As to the Grammar: to li state the revival" is just as good 
English as it would be to say that the magistrate has stated 
the fine weather. The " the return " ought to be " a re- 
turn." 

45. " The early expiration of the Act would, at least, hazard 
the revival of that tyranny ; the restraints imposed on violence 
have not yet been of sufficient duration to form any solid foun- 
dation of a better and more disciplined disposition in the minds 
of the people. Even now it is believed that arms are retained in 
the hope of the expiration of the law on the 1st of August : and 
although a more auspicious sentiment may exist in the hearts of 
some, even of the guilty, it would be contrary to all prudent 
policy and provident wisdom, by a premature relaxation of the 
law, to afford facility to the accomplishment of the worst de- 
signs, and to weaken the protections and safeguards, which [that] 
now secure the lives and properties of the loyal and obedient, 
before the spirit of outrage had [shall have] been effectually ex- 
tinguished." 

" To hazard the revival " is not correct. To hazard 'is 
to expose to danger ; and certainly the Marquis did not mean 
that the revival of the tyranny was a thing that ought not 
to be put in danger. The word hazard had no business 
there. Another mode of expression ought to have been 
used : such as, il exposed the country to the danger of the 
revival of the tyranny." 

The semicolon after tyranny ought to have been a full- 
point. " In the hope of the expiration " is bad enough ! 
but, it is the arrangement of this sentence, the placing of the 
several parts of it, which [that] is most worthy of your at- 
tention, and which [that] ought to be a warning to eveiy 
one who [that] takes pen in hand. 

"Prudent policy and provident wisdom " would seem to 



xxiv.] A BISHOP'S CHARGE. 243 

say that there are such things as imprudent policy and im- 
provident wisdom ; but, still, all the rest is inferior, in point 
of importance, to the confusion which [that] follows, and 
which [that] leaves you wholly in doubt as to the meaning 
of the writer. Now, observe with what facility this mass 
of confusion is reduced to order, and that, too, without add- 
ing to or taking from the Marquis one single word. I be- 
gin after the word wisdom : " to afford, by a premature re- 
laxation of the law, facility to the accomplishment of the 
worst designs, and to weaken, before the spirit of outrage 
had been effectually extinguished, the safeguards which 
[that] now secure the lives and properties of the loyal and 
obedient." 

How clear is this ! And how much more harmonious 
and more elegant too, than the sentence of the Marquis ; 
and yet the words are all the same identical words ! To- 
ward the close of Letter XXI, I gave you, from Dr. John- 
son and Dr. Watts, some striking instances of the -wrong 
placing of words in sentences : and, lest these should be in- 
sufficient to keep so great a man as the Marquis in counte- 
nance, I will here show that a Bishop can commit errors of 
the same sort and greater in degree. 

I have before me " A Charge delivered to the Clergy of 
the Diocese of Winchester ', at a primary visitation of that 
diocese, by George Tomline, D. D. y F. R. S., Lord Bishop 
of Winchester, Prelate of the most Noble Order of the Gar- 
ter."* We will not stop here to inquire what a. prelate's 
office may require of him relative to an Order which [that] 

* George Tomline, successively Bishop of Lincoln and Winchester, 
author of " Elements of Christian Theology," " Memoirs of Mr. Pitt," 
and a " Refutation of the Charge of Calvinism brought against the 
Church of England," born 1750 ; died 1827. The family name of this 
prelate was Prettyman, but he took that of Tomline on inheriting an 
estate left to him. 



244 SIX LESSONS. [letter 

history tells us arose out of a favorite lady fs] dropping her 
garter at a dance ; but I must observe that, as the titles here 
stand, it would appear that the last is deemed the most hon- 
orable and of most importance to the Clergy ! This Bishop, 
whose name was Prettyman, was the Tutor of that Will- 
iam Pitt who [that] was called the heaven-born Minister, 
and a history of whose life has been written by this Bishop. 
So that we have here, a Doctor of Divinity, a Fellow of the 
Royal Society -, a Prelate of the Most Noble Order of the Gar- 
ter, and a Bishop of one of the richest Sees in the whole 
wo?-ld, who, besides, is an [a] Historian, and was Tutor to 
a heaven-born Minister. Let us see then what sort of wait- 
ing comes from such a source. I could take an incorrect 
sentence, I could even take a specimen of downright non- 
sense, from almost any page of the Charge. But I shall 
content myself with the very first sentence of it. 

46. " My Reverend Brethren, being called to preside over this 
distinguished Diocese, at a late period of life, I have thought it 
incumbent upon me not to delay the opportunity of becoming 
personally acquainted with my clergy longer than circumstances 
rendered absolutely necessary." 

There are two double meanings in this short sentence. 
Was he called at some former time, to preside over the dio- 
cese when he should become old ? or was he, when he had 
become old, called to preside over the diocese ? But what 
follows is still worse. Does he mean that he thought it in- 
cumbent on him to become acquainted with his clergy as 
soon as possible, or in as short a time as possible? To delay 
an opportunity is not very good ; and that which [that] is 
of a man's own appointment, and which [that] proceeds 
purely from his own will, can not strictly be called an op- 
portunity. But, it is the double meaning, occasioned by the 
wrong placing of the words, that I wish you to attend to. 



xxiv.] A BISHOP 9 S CHARGE, 245 

Now, see how easily the sentence might, with the same 
words, have been made unequivocal, clear, and elegant : 
" My Reverend Brethren, being called, at a late period of 
life, to preside over this distinguished Diocese, I have 
thought it incumbent on me not to delay longer than cir- 
cumstances rendered absolutely necessary, the opportunity 
of becoming personally acquainted with my clergy." 

How easy it was to write thus ! And yet this Bishop 
did not know how to do it. I dare say that he corrected 
and recorrected every sentence of this Charge. And yet 
what bungling work it is, after all ! And these are your 
college and university bred men ! These are the men who 
[that] are called Doctors on account of their literary ac- 
quirements, doctus being the Latin word for learned / Thus 
it is that the mass of mankind have been imposed upon by 
big-sounding names, which, however, have seldom failed to 
insure, to those who [that] have assumed them, power, ease, 
luxury, and splendor, at the expense of those who [that] 
have been foolish or base enough to acquiesce, or to seem 
to acquiesce, in the fitness of the assumption. 

Such acquiescence is not, however, so general nowa- 
days as it formerly was ; and the chagrin which [that] the 
" Doctors " feel at the change is not more evident than it is 
amusing. In the very Charge which [that] I have just 
quoted, the Tutor of the heaven-born Minister says, " A 
spirit is still manifest among us, producing an impatience 
of control, a reluctance to acknowledge supetiority, and an 
eagerness to call in question the expediency of established 
forms a7id customs." What ! is it, then, a sin, is it an 
offense against God, to be reluctant to "acknowledge superi- 
ority " in a Bishop who [that] can not write so well as our- 
selves ? Oh, no ! We are not to be censured, because we 
doubt of the expediency of those establishments, those Col- 



246 SIX LESSONS. [letter xxiv. 

leges and Universities, which [that] cause immense reve- 
nues, arising from public property, to be expended on the 
education of men, who [that], after "all, can produce, in the 
literary way, nothing better than writings such as those on 
which we have now been remarking. 



INDEX. 



*#* The numerals indicate the paragraph unless the page is specified. 



A' and o\ with the mark of 

elision, 126. 
A or an, indefinite article, 13, 

35- 
Abbreviations, mischievous, 
109. 
of prepositions, 126. 
slovenly and vulgar, 153. 
Abercrombie, Rev. Dr., faulty 
passage from, selected 
by Lindley Murray as 
good grammar, 194. 
Absolute case, Lindley Murray 

on the, 191. 
Accent defined, 105. 
Active verbs, 83, 84. 
Active-intransitive verbs. Edi- 
tor's note, page 53. 
Active-transitive verbs. Edi- 
tor's note, page 53. 
Addison, faulty passage from, 
said by Dr. Blair to be a 
model sentence, 175. 
Adjectives defined, 21. 
etymology of, 72-81. 
degrees of comparison, 73. 
more and most with, 81. 
syntax of, 215-222. 
Admiration mark, 145, 148. 
Adverbs defined, 27, 28. 
etymology of, 121- 124. 



Adverbs, simple or compound, 
124. 
syntax of, 283, 284. 
bad grammar in the use of, 
page 179. 
Agreement of the verb with its 
nominative, 87, 89. 
of pronouns with the nouns 
they stand for, 178. 
Ambiguity in the use of rela- 
tive pronouns. Editor's 
note, pages 6-10. 
Any one used by Dr. Blair for 

either, 213. 
Apostrophe, the, 145, 149. 
Articles, a, an, the, 13, 35. 
etymology of, 34-36. 
syntax of, 157-163. 
bad grammar in the use of, 
page 168. 
As and than followed by an 

objective case, 85. 
Auxiliary verbs, to be, to have, 
to let, to do, 103, 110-117. 

Bad grammar from Dr. John- 
son and Dr. Watts, pages 
165-186. 

Bad writing, not always un- 
grammatical, page 202. 

Be, auxiliary verb, alone of all 



248 



INDEX, 



verbs, changes its form 
for a past time in sub- 
junctive mode, 100. 
Be, conjugation of, 117. 
between singular and plural 

nouns, 247. 
in the subjunctive mode, 275, 
280. 
Big words, with the appear- 
ance of force, page 215. 
Blackstone, Judge, passage 
from, confused in its 
personal pronouns, 177. 
singular verb used by, after 
a plural nominative, 239. 
confused sentence by, 251. 
indicative used by, instead of 
subjunctive mode, 281. 
Blair, Dr. Hugh. See note, 

page 99. 
Blair, Dr. Hugh, confused pas- 
sages from, 1 71, 179. 
uses they for those, etc., 210. 
uses any one for either, 213. 
uses plural verb after a sin- 
gular nominative, 247. 
makes mistake in the time of 

an action, 259. 
uses wrongly the word done, 
265. 
Branches of nouns, 40. 
By heart or hear't, 131. 

Capitals, 154. 

Caret or blunder mark, 155. 

Cases of nouns, 44. 

of personal pronouns, 54. 
of the pronoun who, 62. 
Castlereagh's, Lord, note, bad 
grammar in, page 219. 
second note, page 2.2.Q). 
Ccbbett's grammar unrivaled 
for the purposes of self- 
education. Editor's note, 
page 5. 
Colon, the, 140. 
Comma, the, 142. 



Common nouns, 40. 
Comparison, degrees of, 73. 
Composition, no patching or 
mending in, 155. 
rules for, pages 197, 199. 
Compound noun, an advantage 
to the English language, 
169. 
Compound times of verbs, 102. 
Compound words, useless to 
waste time over them, 
127. 
Conjugating defined, 98. 
Conjugation of to work, 98. 
to have, 115. 
to be, 117. 
Conjunctions defined, 31. 
etymology of, 128. 
copulative and disjunctive, 

128. 
syntax of, 283, 284. 
bad grammar in the use of, 
page 183. 
Connecting words, how to use, 



Consonants, the, 6. 

Co-ordinating relative pro- 
nouns who and which. 
Editor's note, pages 6, 7. 

Crowding relative pronouns, 
208. 

Dash, the, a cover for igno- 
rance, 156. 

Defective verbs, 119. 

Definite article, the, 35. 

Degrees of comparison, 73. 

Demonstrative pronouns, 67, 
210. 

Dictionary, use of the, 133, 284. 

Do, auxiliary verb, in. 
caution in the use of, 265. 
can never in any of its parts 
supply the place of a 
neuter verb, 265, 266. 

Do and did, in, 258, 267. 

Done, wrong use of, 264-266. 



INDEX. 



249 



Double-negative and ellipsis, 
bad grammar in use of 
the, page 186. 

Each, either, every, wrongfully 
used with plural verbs or 
plural pronouns, 211. 
Either and neither. Editor's 

note, page 125. 
Elision, 47, 145, 149. 
Ellipsis, meaning of the, 227. 

to omitted by, 273. 
Enemy not a noun of multi- 
tude, page 194. 
Errors and nonsense in a king's 

speech, page 187. 
Esteem themselves happy for 
deem the?nselves happy, 
210. 
Et cetera (&c), remark on, 153. 
Etymology defined, 8. 
of articles, 34-36. 
nouns, 37-48. 
pronouns, 49-71. 
adjectives, 72-81. 
verbs, 82-120. 
adverbs, 121-124. 
prepositions, 125-127. 
conjunctions, 128. 
interjections, 32. 
Exclamation-mark, 145, 148. 
Expected to have seen for ex- 
pected to see, 259. 
Extremely worthy, 210. 

Fallen, I am, equivalent to I 
am in a fallen state, and 
so with some other words 
from neuter verbs, 270. 

Feel satisfied, a senseless ex- 
pression, 265. 

Figurative language in using 
the definite article, 40. 
in genders of nouns and per- 
sonal pronouns, 43. 
caution in using, pages 180, 
199. 



Formation of plural of nouns, 
41. 
of degrees of comparison, 

74-77- 
of present time of verbs, 105. 
of past time and participles 

of verbs, 105. 
of adverbs from adjectives, 

121, 122. 
Full-point, full-stop, or period, 

139. 
Future time of verbs, 90. 

Genders of nouns and personal 
pronouns, 42, 53. 

Generally speaking equivalent 
to when we speak gener- 
ally, 248. 

Gone, adjective and participle, 
270. 

Government of nouns and pro- 
nouns by active verbs, 
230. 
by prepositions, 164. 

Grammar and its branches de- 
fined, 1-5. 
the business of, 284. 

Hall, Dr. Fitzedward, on than 
whom, 201. 

Hanged — hung, 109. 

Have, auxiliary verb, conju- 
gated, 115. 
wrong use of, with the pas- 
sive participle, when the 
past time or infinitive 
should be used, 259. 

Hume's bad grammar, 170 184. 
wrong use of that for who, 

y 202. 

wrong use of a degree of 
comparison, 217. 
Hyphen, the, 124, 145, 150. 
put for possessive case, 168. 

If, a mark of the subjunctive 
mode, 118 ; has nothing 



250 



INDEX, 



to do with the govern- 
ment of verbs, 277. 

Imperative mode, 96. 

Impersonal verbs, 119. 

Indefinite article, 35. 

Indeterminate or indefinite 
pronouns, 71, 211. 

Indicative mode, 94, 274. 

Infinitive mode, 93. 
may be a noun, and in the 
nominative case or ob- 
jective case, 273, 285. 

Insight into said to be im- 
properly used, but justi- 
fied by the editor, 172. 

Interjections, 32. 

Interrogation-mark, 145, 147. 

Interrogative pronouns, 69, 
205. 

Irregular verbs, 107. 

It, personal pronoun, and in its 
impersonal capacity, 60. 
with the verb to be, 189, 193. 
the great troubler, 194. 
misuse of, 195. 

It had been better omitted said 
to be a sheer vulgarism, 
but justified by the edi- 
tor, 259. 

Italics, 154. 

Johnson, Dr., uses every one 
followed by their, 212. 

has eloped as an active verb, 
269. 

other grammatical errors in, 
pages 168-186. 

King's speech, errors and non- 
sense in a, page 187. 

Learned languages, pages 166, 
167. 

Let, auxiliary verb, no. 

Lie — lay, 84. 

Logic, Dr. Watts's, bad gram- 
mar in, pages 168-186. 



Long Island, Cobbett's Gram- 
mar written on. Edi- 
tor's note, page 13. 

Lowth, Bishop. See note, page 

95. 
Lowth, Bishop, uses the article 

wrongly, 158. 
on plural nouns after it, 190. 
on whom following than, 

201. 
misplaces it, 201. 
on the relative pronoun as a 

nominative, 245. 
on the subjunctive mode, 277. 

Mine, my, 56. 

Misplaced words, page 184. 
Modes in verbs, 91. 
infinitive, 93. 
indicative, 94. 
subjunctive, 95. 
imperative, 96. 
Moods. See Modes. 
More and most in degrees of 

comparison, 81. 
Murray, Lindley. See note, 

page 112. 
Murray, Lindley, on the abso- 
lute case, 191. 
selects faulty passage from 
Rev. Dr. Abercrombie 
as correct, 194. 
on different persons disjoined 
by or and nor, and on 
nominatives to verbs, 

243. 
on the relative pronoun as a 

nominative, 245. 
on the subjunctive mode, 277. 
Must corrected to should have 

to, by the editor, 169. 

Neuter verbs, 83, 84, 268. 
Nominative case, 46. 

explained, 231. 

may be one word, or two or 
more words, 240. 



INDEX. 



251 



Nominative case, may be of not 
only two or more nouns 
or personal pronouns, 
but of many other words 
along with them, 249. 

omission of the, 250. 

must always be kept in view, 
251, 282. 
No patching, or mending in 

composition, 155. 
Nouns, defined, 14. 

etymology of ; 37. 

branches of, 40. 

proper and common, 40. 

singular and plural numbers, 
41. 

genders, 42. 

cases, 44. 

nominative case, 46, 231, 240, 
249, 2S2. 

possessive case, 46, 166, 167, 

253- 
objective case, 48, 232, 252. 
syntax of, 164. 
of number or multitude, 181. 
governed by active verbs, 230. 
governed by prepositions, 

236. 
may be the active participle, 

272. 
or the infinitive mode, 273. 
bad grammar in the use of, 

page 169. 
Numbers, singular and plural, 

41. 
of personal pronouns, 52. 
in verbs, 89. 
in nouns of multitude, 181. 

Objective case, 48. 
explained, 232. 
has nothing to do with verbs, 
252. 
Of, a sign of the possessive case, 

36. 
Or and nor, effect of, 240, 242. 
Orthography defined, 6. 



Ought, defective verb, 119. 

Ought to and should, not to be 
used indiscriminately ; 
Cobbett sometimes cor- 
rected. Editor's note, 
page 79. 

Paragraph, meaning of a. In- 
troductio?i, page 19. 
as marked in the Bible, 152. 
how to use the, page 198. 
Parenthesis, the, 146. 

faulty omission of the, 146. 
Participles, 92, 262-264, 272. 
wrong use of active, 260. 
past time of verbs used for 

passive, 263. 
bad grammar in the use of, 
page 178. 
Parts of speech, n. 
Passive verbs, 83, 262. 
Past time of verbs, 90. 
Pension and pensioner defined 
by Dr. Johnson. See 
note, page 117. 
Per, a mystical sort of word, 

160. 
Person, in personal pronouns, 

in verbs, 86. 

explained, 238. 
Personal pronouns, 49. 
Personification, 1S2, 198. 
Plural number, 41. 
Points (punctuation), 9, 137- 
156. 

importance of, 137. 
Possessive case, 47, 166, 167. 

has nothing to do with verbs, 

253- 
Potential modes only serve to 

puzzle the learner, 274. 
Practical hints for studying 

grammar, 10, 120, 131- 

*33> *35- 
Prepositions defined, 29. 
etymology of, 125. 



252 



INDEX. 



Prepositions, abbreviations of, 
126. 
govern nouns and pronouns 
in the objective case, 236. 
syntax of, 283, 284. 
bad grammar in the use of, 
page 181. 
Present time of verbs, 90. 
Present time (tense), what is 
true at all times always 
to be expressed in the. 
Editor's note, page 188. 
Prince Regent's, the, speech, 
bad grammar in, page 
213. 
Pronunciation, 7. 
Pronouns, defined, 17. 
etymology of, 49. 
personal, 49. 
relative, 62, 197. 
demonstrative, 67, 210. 
interrogative, 69, 205. 
indeterminate or indefinite, 

71, 211. 
syntax of, 174. 
cases of, 184, 185. 
governed by verbs and prep- 
ositions in the objective 
case, 184, 185. 
crowding of, 208. 
bad grammar in the use of, 
page 171. 
Proper nouns, 40. 
Prosody, 7. 
Punctuation, 9, 137-156. 

Quotation-marks, 151. 

Raise — rise, 84. 

" Rambler," Dr. Johnson's, bad 
grammar in, pages 168- 
186. 

Regular verbs, 104, 106. 

falsely deemed irregular, 108. 

Relative pronouns, discrimi- 
nating use of the. Edi- 
tor's note, page 6. 



Relative pronouns, 62, 197. 
can never be nominatives, 245. 
editor's remark on the above, 
page 141. 
Repetition better than bad 

grammar, 241. 
Restrictive relative pronoun 
that. Editor's notes, 
pages 6, 7, 119. 

Same words, but belonging to 
more than one part of 
speech, 130. 

Section, how marked, 152. 

Self and selves, 59. 

Self-education, Cobbett's gram- 
mar unrivaled for. Edi- 
tor's note, page 5. 

Semicolon, the, 141. 

Sentence, as a term in grammar. 
___ Introduction, page 19. 
simple and compound, 139. 
has always a verb expressed 
or understood, 224, 225. 

Sentence-making, page 196. 

Signs in verbs, shall, should, 
may, might, can, could, 
will, would, must, 119, 
255, 258. 

Singular number, 41. 

Singular or plural number 
after a noun of multi- 
tude, 244. 

Six lessons to prevent states- 
men from using false 
grammar, page 201, et 
seq. 

So, soever, ever, 209. 

So, such, 143. 

Speaker's, the, speech to the 
Prince Regent, page 204, 
et seq. 

Specimens of false grammar, 
pages 165-187. 

" Spectator," No. 411, ungram- 
matical passage from, 
175. 



INDEX. 



2 53 



Speech, parts of, n. 

Star, a mark usually referring 

to a note, 152. 
Statesmen, six lessons to, page 

201, et seq. 
Stops used in writing, 9, 137- 

156. 
Study, method of, 10, 120, 131- 

133, 135. 
Subjunctive mode, 95, 274. 

when to be used, 277-281. 
Syntax denned, 9. 

generally considered, 135. 

of points and marks, 137- 

of articles, 157-163. 
nouns, 164-173. 
pronouns, 174-214. 
adjectives, 215-222. 
verbs, 223-283. 
adverbs, prepositions, con- 
junctions, 283, 284. 

Tense. See Time. 

Than and as, followed by the 

objective case, 185. 
Than whom, 200. 
That, the restrictive relative 
pronoun. Editor's notes, 
pages 6, 7, 119. 
That, relative pronoun, 64. 
demonstrative pronoun, 67. 
a conjunction, 67. 
as a relative, can not take a 
preposition or verb im- 
mediately before it, e. g., 
the man to that I gave a 
book, 202. 
as a relative, is applied either 
to persons or things, 202. 
employed indifferently with 
which, 203. 
The, definite article, 13, 35. 
Them and they, wrongly used 

for those, 210. 
There, adverb, having no refer- 
ence to place, 61. 



They and them wrongly used 
for those, 210. 

Thing, a use of the word, 285. 

This, demonstrative pronoun, 
67. 

Those, right use of, 210. 

Time in verbs — present, past, 
future, 90, 255. 
compound, 256, 258. 
past, confounded with the 
passive participle, 262. 

To, a sign prefixed to verbs, 
and part of the verb, 93. 
the sign of the infinitive 
mode, 231. 

Tull, Mr., author of " New 
Horse-hoeing Husband- 
ry," see note, page 88. 

Tull's, Mr., omission of a pa- 
renthesis, 146. 
omission of the definite arti- 
cle, 159. 

Verbs defined, 23-25. 
etymology of, 82-120. 
sorts of, 83. 
active, 83, 84. 
passive, 83, 262, 268. 
neuter, 83, 84, 268. 
person in, 86. 
number in, 89. 
time in, 90, 255-258. 
modes in, 91, 273-280. 
signs used with, 91, 93, 119, 

258. 
conjugation of to work, 98. 
conjugation of to have, 115. 
conjugation of to be, 117. 
auxiliary, 103. 
regular, 104. 

falsely deemed irregular, 108. 
irregular, 107. 
defective, 119. 
impersonal, 119. 
syntax of, 223-282. 
expressed or understood in 

all sentences, 224, 225. 



254 



INDEX. 



Verbs govern nouns and pro- 
nouns in the objective 
case, 230. 

agree in number and person 
with their nominatives, 
238. 

singular or plural after nouns 
of multitude, 244. 

in pursuit of their nomina- 
tives, run through rela- 
tive pronouns to come at 
their antecedents, 245. 

active in one sense and neu- 
ter in another, 270. 

participles of, 97, 262-264, 
272. 

bad grammar in the use of, 
page 175. 
Very right, very wrong, 220. 
Vowels, the, 6. 

Wanted, wanting, 260. 

Watts, Dr. , bad grammar in, 
pages 168-186. 

Wellesley's, Marquis, dispatch- 
es, bad grammar in, page 

234. 

Wellington's, Duke of, dis- 
patch, bad grammar in, 
page 225. 

What, demonstrative pronoun, 
67, 70. 
interrogative pronoun, 205, 
207. 

Which, relative pronoun, 62, 

65. 
applied to irrational beings 

only, 203. 
and employed indifferently 

with that, 203. 
with nouns of multitude, 204. 



Which or who after nouns of 
multitude consisting of 
rational creatures, 204. 

Who, relative pronoun, 62. 
interrogative pronoun, 69, 
205. 

Who and which, the co-ordi- 
nating relative pronouns. 
See Editor's note, pages 

6,7. 

Who or which, applied to nouns 
of multitude, 204. 

Whose and of which, and 
whose used for the pur- 
pose of restriction. See 
quotation from * ' The 
Verbalist," pages 114, 

115. 
Will, would, shall, should, 

may, might, can, could, 

verbal signs, 119, 255, 

258. 
Winchester's, Bishop of, charge, 

bad grammar in, page 

243- 
With, added to nominatives, 
e. g., he, with them, are, 
246. 

Editor's remark on the above, 
page 142. 
Words, the same, but belong- 
ing to more than one 
part of speech, 130. 

left out, 228, 278. 

wrongly placed, page 184. 

connecting, use of, page 
198. 

big, with the appearance of 
force, page 215. 
Writing, bad, not always un- 
grammatical, page 202. 



THE END. 



THE VERBALIST: 

A MANUAL 

Devoted to Brief Discussions of the Right and the 
Wrong Use of Words, and to some other Mat- 
ters of Interest to those who would Speak 
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By ALFRED AYRES. 

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By ALFRED AYRES. 

SELECTIONS FROM THE WORK. 

ab-do'men, not ^Vdo-men. 
ac-crue', not -cru\ 

The orthoepists agree that u, preceded by r in the 
same syllable, generally becomes simply 00, as in rude, 
rumor, rural, rule, ruby. 

al-l&p'a-thy ; aUSp'a-thist. 
Ar'a-bic, not A-ra'bic. 
Asia — a/she-a, not a'zha. 
ay, or aye (meaning yes)—!* 
aye (meaning always)— a. 
Bis'marck, not biz 7 -. 

At the end of a syllable, s, in German, has its sharp 
sound. 

Cairo — in Egypt, kl'ro ; in the United 
States, ka/ro. 

dec'ade, not de-kad ; . 
de-co'rotis. 

The authority is small, and is becoming less, for say- 
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def 'i-cit, not de-fig'it. > 
disdain', not dis-. 

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